Well, hey, I got this chapter out faster than the last few, didn't I? Yay for me! Okay, since I forgot the last time, I'll start out by answering some questions:
Makeveli: Okay, I started talking about Charles' wife here in this chapter, but you'll find out more about her in the next chapter too I think. I still haven't decided if I'm going to actually bring her in, or just talk about her.
And, just to let you all know, I should be able to update more frequently from now on because I don't have a lot of hard classes next semester. Only one and maybe two this time! Okay, see ya!
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Disclaimer: *hiss* I don't own anything!
Girl of My Dreams
Chapter 20
Trunks grabbed a small stack of paper from his desk the next morning.
"I want her to be able to let her feelings out. I want there to be written feelings for the court to see. The judge will know that she isn't lying about this. I'll just give her this stack of paper. She can hide this easier if she has to."
Trunks sat down at his table and began to write a note to Pan on the top page of the stack.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone entered the courtroom the next morning in packs. Pan still sat on Charles' side of the room quietly, not bothering to acknowledge anyone around her.
Bulma went out of her way to walk by Pan to get to her desk and as she walked by she smiled and dropped a stack of paper on Pan's lap. Pan looked up with wonder and watched Bulma go to her desk. She looked down and unfolded the stack to find a note from Trunks.
Pan,
Remember how I said you should write? Well, here's the paper. Please write down everything you can. This is important. If you do this, you're practically guaranteed that you won't ever have to live with Charles. Even if Gohan, your mother, and I get thrown in jail and you can't live with your parents, at least you won't have to live with him. Try to hide this the best that you can. Find someplace safe, he can't know that you will be able to have something written on paper against him. I know he thinks he has mental control over you since he has been messing with your head all these years, and he probably does. But writing is a special outlet and even if you can't say the words, at least you can have them on paper. I love you Pan. I hope that this will all be over soon. I don't want you to be around him anymore. Please let me know if he hurts you again. You worry me too much when you shut down and don't talk to me! I love you. Bye sweetie!
Trunks
Pan refolded the stack and shoved it inside her sweatshirt before anyone noticed. She looked over at Bulma again and saw both Bulma and Trunks standing and smiling at her. Then they turned and pretended not to notice Pan. Pan searched the room for her mother and father and spotted them talking to her grandparents Goku and Chi-Chi.
Charles had turned around to talk to her and had noticed her looking at her real family. "Now you listen to me, Panny," he said quietly, but with a deadly tone. "You don't want to know what will happen if I lose. I have connections with a lot of people and a lot of them aren't very nice. Do you understand?"
Pan was almost forced to tears just imagining that anything would harm her or her parents, but she held back her tears and said bravely, "I don't care what you say. My parents love me. They'll protect me."
"There are some things that they can't protect you from. Where were they when I took you back?"
More people entered the courtroom and began sitting down. Not wanting anyone to overhear him threatening Pan, Charles turned around after giving Pan a glare.
"I feel like crying," she thought. "I want to be on my parents' side of the room. I would love to do that. I don't think I could though. Maybe…"
She looked around and inched herself closer to her parents. It was only an inch, but to Pan, it felt like a mile. To take the initiative and having the strength to do anything against Charles was something new to her. The only thing she had ever done against him was contacting Trunks, and she hadn't even counted that. She told herself that she was just testing out her telepathic abilities when she really knew that she was crying out for help. She glanced quickly at Charles, expecting him to be glaring at her for doing such a thing and she got herself ready to move back to where she had been. Instead, all she saw was the back of his head. But one person had noticed Pan's daring. Pan looked across the isle, thinking about moving again when she caught her grandfather's eye. He had seen her.
"Come over here," Goku whispered to her.
She opened her mouth to say she couldn't do that, it was too rash, but just then the judge came in and she stayed where she was. Everyone sat down when they were told by the bailiff and the room became quiet. A middle aged woman with long black hair in a bun was called up to the stand by Mr. Hahn. Her name, Pan found out when she was sworn in, was Lin Kuei.
"Mrs. Kuei, what is your relationship to this case?"
"I was the social worker in charge of finding Pan a home."
"Can you describe Mrs. Son for us at the time she released her daughter to you?" Mr. Hahn asked.
"At the time, she was Miss Satan. She seemed to be very distraught over giving up her child, but almost all mothers are upset when they bring their children in."
"Did she seem as if she were, or rather, would have been a good mother?"
"I can say for sure. Obviously, if she brought the child in, she didn't think that she was ready. We respect the mother's decision. We would much rather have parents come in and give us their child if they know that the child won't be provided for well enough, than having to go to that home later in the child's life and forcibly take the child away. As for Miss Satan, all I can say is that most mothers as young as she is can't take care of a baby the way it should be taken care of on their own, which Miss Satan planned on doing. She told us that she didn't want her father to know about it. I'm sure that if she had really wanted to, Miss Satan could have made ends meet; he father is a rich man. But we respected her decision."
"What, exactly, is the right way to raise a child? What are your firm's standards?"
"Well, a child needs a nurturing environment. They especially need two parents. Two parents are usually better because together, they can provide more attention to the child and the child will 9 times out of ten become a well-rounded person."
"What about single parents?"
"We rarely ever give a child to a single parent?"
"Why?"
"A person living on their own or if they live with their own parent, aren't likely candidates for being a good parent at that stage. Perhaps they are well intentioned, and perhaps would be a nice parent, but they can't provide for that child. Most single persons, who live on their own, live in an apartment or a house. A lot of their paycheck, since their paycheck isn't shared by a husband or wife, goes to their rent or house payment. Now, depending on their job, they only have so much money left for buying food, clothes, and other things they might need. If you throw another person in and that single parent has to provide for that child, it takes out a lot more of that paycheck. Twice the food needs to be bought, twice the clothes. And, to have a well-adjusted child, you need to spend extra time with him or her and take them out to the movies or to the store. Providing for a child while a single parent is very hard to do. We only let a single parent adopt when we are sure that the child will be taken care of, and there won't be any kind of financial problems that would cause the family to go broke and live on the street. That situation could either be just as bad or worse than what the child had before. We strive to not let things like that happen."
"And where did Mr. Miller fit in?"
"He was not a single parent at that time; he had a wife."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"From what you have described, Mrs. Kuei, you must have a very strict and difficult system that people must pass through in order to adopt a child. A two parent home, correct?"
"Yes," Lin answered.
"And Charles Miller passed all the tests and went through the whole system you have and was able to adopt."
"Yes he did."
"How?" Bulma asked.
"He met our standards."
"What about his wife?"
"He was married and produced a valid marriage license. He and his wife met our background checks and passed the multiple interviews that we set up to investigate their personality and integrity."
"Why do you do that?"
"So we can make sure that they will be in the right mind set for having a child and we make sure that they understand what a responsibility it is taking care of a child. Children are not toys or cars that they can get rid of when they please. We stress that in my firm."
"What was Mr. Miller's wife's name, please?"
"Elaine McDowell."
Bulma nodded. "I see. Elaine McDowell, his 'wife' divorced him three months after the adoption…"
Videl leaned over to Trunks and whispered, 'Wow, your mom really did her homework with this case. Maybe she would be a good lawyer."
"Yeah," Trunks replied.
Trunks remembered watching his Mom hard at work the night before. She had been sitting on her bed with papers lying all over her bed. Somehow, as cluttered as it all seemed to Trunks, Bulma knew what she was doing and anytime she needed a certain paper, she knew exactly where it was. Trunks watched his mom work for almost half the night, before he got tired and went to bed. He remembered, just as he was leaving, watching his dad trying to find a spot on the bed to sleep on.
"I can't believe that she found out that Charles had a wife before."
"Neither can I."
Lin was obviously not aware that Charles had gotten a divorce.
"Did you do any follow-ups on the Millers? Isn't that a standard procedure?" Bulma asked.
"It is, but we only do check ups during the first few weeks to a month after the child is adopted. We make sure that the family will be okay and that the child is adjusting. After that, we leave them alone. Regular families are not checked up on, so we like to give the family their space."
"So you believed that the Millers would be a good family and that Pan would have the best life possible?"
"Yes."
Pan had been slowly inching towards the isle. Now she was halfway there, but as soon as she heard Mrs. Kuei say that, she moved six more inches to the isle in protest. "How can that woman say that he was a good parent?"
Bulma walked back to her desk and took out the photos taken of Pan's bruises. She walked back to Lin and showed them to her, then let the bailiff take them to Judge Swartz.
"These are photos that were taken a few weeks ago. The person pictured is Pan, as you can see in one of the photos. These were taken after she was brought back from Mr. Miller's house the first time she was taken by him."
"Objection," Mr. Hahn broke in, "That hasn't been proven yet."
"Sustained."
"These pictures we taken after Pan was kidnapped from the Son's home and was later found in Mr. Miller's house. Mrs. Kuei, the photos show Pan bleeding, bruised, swollen…this is after my clients found her in Mr. Miller's home. She told them herself that it was Charles who did it. Why would she lie about something like that? How could a person slip through all your rules and standards for adopting? His own mother mentioned that he had always been a liar. How did your firm allow this man to adopt a child?"
Pan had still been slowly making her way to the isle and was now at the very edge. She looked back and saw Robert glaring at her. Everyone in the row behind her looked at her with awe, waiting to see if she would really cross the isle. She looked at Charles. He still hadn't turned around. Then she looked across at Goku and Chi Chi who had been encouraging her all the time to keep moving. She saw all the people who had been so kind to her on the other side of the isle. She knew that once she went to the other side, there was no going back. If the judge did not notice, Pan would still have to go back to the secluded apartment with Charles. He would definitely notice and would teach her a lesson. Nearly everyone's eyes were on her instead of paying attention to what was going on in front of the courtroom. Even the bailiff seemed to be fixated on her. Even Vegeta, who was usually so aloof and never took any special notice of anyone was watching what she did. Pan knew that she would be happier on the other side, and it would make a huge statement; she did not like Charles and wasn't on his side.
So, taking one more deep breath, she got up and scurried over to the opposite bench and sat down next to Goku. Chi Chi reached over and held her hand, close to tears. A murmur arose in the courtroom.
Bulma stopped talking and looked around. Everyone was whispering at one another, but they all seemed to be looking in one direction. She followed the looks and saw that Pan had moved to the other side of the courtroom.