I watch waaaaaaaaay too muchLaw and Order: SVU; and you'll see that in this chapter. PS: don't get so worked up over the end; this is NOTthe last chapter, so just wait and see. Here ya go!

---

The trial week of the trial came closer, and Yugi still didn't know about it. He never even spoke about what might happen if he were taken away from Atem. The young father knew that the jury would see that he was a better parent then both those Neanderthals put together, but still, there was just something in the back of his mind that was bothering him. Atem couldn't think of what to do. Sighing, he stood up and made a trip to the second floor of the house. He walked as quietly as he could so as not to wake his slumbering son.

In Yugi's room, the small boy cuddled the thick blankets over him, sleeping soundly. His eyes moved under his eyelids, showing that he was in stage five, or for those of you who don't know that much about Psychology, REM sleep. (Rapid Eye Movement) Silently, Atem opened the door and walked in his son's room. Yugi's hand was curled in a fist, clutching the blankets and resting right in front of his nose. Atem couldn't help but think what a wonder his son was. Atem leaned down and used the back of his index finger to caress Yugi's baby soft cheek. Like always, Yugi smiled and nuzzled it. (Can you tell I love making him do that?) He couldn't think of his life without Yugi; Yugi was the one who changed his outlook on life.

Up until the day he found Yugi screaming in that ally, he thought his life had no meaning and was seriously thinking of committing suicide. He hated everything about his life: his job, his love life, even his family. He was in a major depression and didn't know how to bring himself back out of it. Then a miracle happened; some ray of sunshine in the black cloudy skies of Atem's life: a baby had been abandoned, left for dead in an ally. When Atem first held Yugi in his arms, he knew then, more then ever, that he did have something to live for. He had to live for Yugi, and fight for him when the time came, no matter what.

Now, that time had come, and Atem would fight for Yugi, no matter how hard things got. Even if it'd end him up on Death Row, he would fight. He'd always been there for Yugi. Atem was there when the boy was scared of going back to school, after his first day. When Yugi was in the second grade, and his class was putting on a play about the Founding Fathers, Yugi had won the role of John Hancock; Atem was there. To have Yugi show off his good grades, his achievements, his own little discoveries; Atem was always there. Yugi needed him now more then ever. Atem smiled as he watched his son sleep. He bent down to give the small boy a tiny peck on the forehead when a soft voice stopped him.

"Dad?" Atem sat up in shock. He didn't mean to wake him up. Yugi sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked with a bit of a slur. Apparently, Atem had disturbed his REM, and we all know how funky we feel when we're in REM and immediately brought out of it. Atem bit his lip. Was now the right time to tell him?

"Yugi … I have something to tell you …" Yugi's mind finally surfaced when he sensed the seriousness in his father's voice.

"About what?" Atem sighed and sat on the bed, opening his arms in an invitation for the boy to sit in his lap. Yugi happily accepted the invitation and crawled in Atem's lap, both nuzzling each other. "What's the matter, Dad?" Atem looked at Yugi with tears in his eyes.

"Little One, there's a problem …" Yugi was starting to get nervous now.

"Dad, please just tell me!" Another sigh escaped from Atem's mouth.

"Those people," Atem didn't have to explain to Yugi who he meant; just the look in the child's eyes told him that he knew who this was about, "they want to … to … take you away …" Yugi gasped and clutched Atem's skin. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so the next best thing was his skin. The father flinched when his skin was pinched, but knew that Yugi did that out of fear. "Now before you jump to any conclusions, I want you to know that I won't be giving you up without a fight; I promise." Tears were starting to flow down Yugi's face like rivers and his chin began to shiver in fear. His pupils dilated from the shock at what Atem was telling him.

"P-please don't let them take me away!" He buried his face in Atem's chest. Atem tried to soothe Yugi by rubbing circles on his back.

"Shh … calm down, Yugi." Yugi went into hysteria with his crying.

"But I don't wanna go with them! I like it here! I love you, not them! Please don't make me go!" Atem rested his head on top of Yugi's and continued to soothe him while the boy kept repeating the last part of his statement over and over. "Don't make me go, don't make me go …" He whispered while still crying.

"Shh … it's going to be alright …" Yugi continued to ball his eyes out in Atem's chest. Seeing the child cry this hard made Atem want to cry right beside him. He wouldn't let himself do that, but a few tears did make their way down his face. Soon, Yugi's hysteria calmed down and had reduced to small sniffles. Atem kept rubbing his back and started swaying back and forth. "Shh …" he kept saying.

"Dad, why do they wanna take me away?"

"Well, apparently, they want you to live with them now. I don't know why, but because they are your blood parents, they want you back." Yugi sniffled.

"But they'll hurt me, I just know it …" Atem's arms tightened around the boy.

"I believe so as well; that's why your uncles and I are going to do anything we can in order to keep you out of their reach." Yugi smiled and sniffled again.

"Thanks, Dad … I love you." Atem smiled as well and kissed Yugi on the forehead.

"I love you too, my Little One.

"Dad, can I sleep with you tonight?" Normally, Atem would have said 'no', but he felt that the boy needed as much comfort as he could right now.

"Of course." He picked Yugi up, along with Ping, and walked to his own room, where the two of them slept peacefully.

---

The day of the trial came quicker then expected. Even though Bakura had successfully come up with a tactic that would prove that Yugi would never see those awful people again, Atem still couldn't get ride of the feeling that something was going to happen. He and Bakura sat at one table while the Motos and their lawyer sat at another. Yugi, Marik, Solomon and Eleanor were in the audience with other people.

"Darkling!" The lawyer shouted. Both Bakura and Atem turned to look at him. Bakura rolled his eyes and stood up while straightening his tie.

"Friedman!" Both lawyers stared each other down, not moving a muscle. The one called Friedman smirked.

"Still such a dull officer of the court that you're still here in Family Court, huh?" Bakura scuffed.

"Well if you were such a high and mighty lawyer, how come you're here too?" Friedman kept smirking.

"The Motos have been my clients for years, and now they want their son back, so I'm helping them put their family together again."

"What do you mean 'again'! They were never a family to begin with; they abandoned him in an ally!"

"You don't know that; they could have left him there and went to go get help, then planned on coming back."

"Oh shut yer hole, Friedman; it's lawyers like you who give us our blood-sucking reputations!"

"And it's lawyers like you, Darkling, lawyers that are not very good at all, who make me rich with all my winning cases." Bakura was getting pissed beyond reason now. He raised his finger and was about to yell at him.

"Friedman, I swear, if you don't get the fuck away from me, I'll"---

"All rise, for the Honorable Judge George Heth." A bailiff announced. Bakura went back to the table he was sitting at with his brother.

"Who was that?" Atem asked.

"Don Friedman; the prick cheats on the BAR exam and thinks he's suddenly the greatest lawyer to ever exist. I tell ya, the grades he got in Law School were far from even allowing him to touch that title." Atem had to chuckle as everyone sat down.

"Case #45682, Jack and Olga Moto vs. Atem Darkling over custody of the minor, Yugi Darkling, also known as Yugi Moto. This case will now come to order." The judge said.

When the Judge said his name, then what his 'real' name was, Yugi gulped. He noticed the sadistic smirk on the faces of, as Atem and Yugi had come to know them, those people. Yugi didn't know what to do. Uncle Bakura said that he was going to call on him to answer a few questions, but he also said that the other lawyer was going to ask him questions as well. Uncle Bakura said not to worry and try to answer them as honestly as he possibly could.

Most of the trial consisted of his parents on the stand, being questioned by both lawyers. But it seemed that every question Bakura poured out to them, they always had a way of making it seem as if they were the innocent victims here. Then finally, Bakura called Atem to the stand.

"The defense calls Atem Darkling to the stand!" Bakura said. Atem stood up and looked at Yugi. He smiled and winked at the boy, as if trying to assure him that nothing would go wrong. After Atem was put under oath, Bakura started questioning him, being careful not to let out that the two of them were brothers.

"Mr. Darkling, please state how you came to know that Yugi existed." Atem cleared his throat. He sat with his legs crossed and his hands folded.

"One night, I was walking home in the rain … my car was not working, so I had to walk home. Anyway, in an ally, I found Yugi there, screaming and wrapped in soggy newspaper. Bakura winked at him.

"How did you come to the conclusion to adopt the child?"

"The doctor there tried to do a genetics test to see who his parents were, but there were no records of them at all, so he would have been sent to a children's home. I simply fell in love with him and had to make sure he was taken care of; so I decided to adopt him." Atem looked at Yugi and smiled at him with a loving smile. Yugi smiled back.

"How long has Yugi been in your custody?"

"Since he was released from the hospital."

"Which was?"

"When he was three months old."

"In that time, have you ever risen a hand to or shouted at Yugi?" Atem shook his head. He felt a little offended that Bakurawould even think aboutaskingthat question. But he answered it, nontheless.

"Never."

"Has Yugi ever told you that he'd wished he didn't live with you, or ever been angry at you?"

"Once; when he found out about his adoption; but that was taken care of as soon as he found out what his 'life givers' were like." Atem glared at the couple on the opposite side of the room. Bakura smiled and looked at the judge.

"No further questions." As he went to sit down, Don Friedman stood up.

"Mr. Darkling, I have a report here that says when Yugi was three years old, he was molested in a state park, were you there at that time?" Atem glared again and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Yes, but he wondered off"---

"And also, I see that your only babysitter for him was your elder brother, who I might mention is a convicted felon." Atem's vain looked as if it were about to explode out of his forehead. In the audience, he could hear Marik mumbling out every curse in every language he knew.

"My brother would never hurt a member of his family and he loves Yugi more then anything in the world."

"But still, isn't it a little suspicious that you'd have an ex-con baby sit a very fragile child?"

"He didn't go to prison for molesting a child!" Atem was starting to yell now, and he could tell that Friedman was getting a kick out of this.

"But still, that's a little"--- Bakura stood up and slammed his hands on the table he was sitting at.

"Objection, badgering!" Friedman turned around.

"Withdrawn; Mr. Darkling, you've also lied to this child in the past as well. You told him you had a dead wife and never told him about his adoption.

"Objection, what does that have to do with anything!" The judge shrugged.

"Overruled; the witness may answer the question." All eyes fell on Atem.

"Yes, I did lie to him." Friedman smirked.

"Thank you." He started to walk back to his seat, but Atem wasn't finished.

"But that was only for his protection; he forgave me for it!"

"No more questions." Friedman said. Atem was growling under his breath. 'Bakura was right; total blood-sucker!' He thought to himself.

"You may step down, Mr. Darkling." The judge said. Atem casually walked back to his seat and sat down.

Yugi cringed. He'd never seen his father so upset before. It that lawyer was that tough on questioning his father, just imagine what he'd do to poor Little Yugi. Yugi thought he was going to crack under the questioning. He'd hoped that he wouldn't be called at all.

"Your Honor, the defense would like to call upon Yugi Darkling." Too late … Yugi sighed as he shakily stood up and made his way over to the bench. Like the little prince he was, he sat up straight and placed his hands in his lap. He was starting to sweat both out of fear and the fact that he was wearing a navy blue sweater-vest and a white turtle-neck under it. He looked at Atem, who smiled another loving smile. Yugi smiled at that smile, but then looked over at the other table, only to find glares of death in those eyes. He silently gulped as he was sworn in. Uncle Bakura questioned him first. He winked at his small nephew, hoping to get rid of some of the tension.

"Yugi, do you love your father?" Yugi smiled.

"Yes, very much."

"Can you tell me all the things he's done for you?" The boy nodded.

"He takes care of me when I'm sick; he makes sure he doesn't have to work. He always makes me take my medicines, even though I don't want to." The jury and the audience laughed at how adorable he was. "He takes me out to eat when I get good grades on tests. And he sings to me at night when I can't seem to fall asleep." Atem smiled, looking at Yugi with all the love he had. He could hear some of the jury members making awe sounds.

"Tell me, Yugi; when you found out you were adopted, how did you take it?" Yugi lowered his head in shame.

"I acted like a brat …"

"How so?"

"I told him that he wasn't really my father and that I wanted to see my real parents."

"When you found them, what did they do?" Bakura asked. Atem could see the tears in Yugi's eyes and knew he was trying to hold them back.

"T-the lady she-she slapped me a-and the man tried to-to-to shoot me." There were gasps everywhere. The man at the other table hid his face in his hand.

"And what did you do when they shot at you?"

"I ran home to my dad." Bakura winked at him again.

"No further questions." Yugi let out a breath; one down, one to go. Friedman came up with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Don't you think you might be exaggerating a little bit?" Yugi blinked.

"What?"

"I mean your father could have been shooting at someone behind you that you didn't see."

"But he"---

"And I don't think that was your mother that slapped you; it may have been her twin sister that slapped you since she didn't know you."

"But I"---

"You don't really know them, do you Yugi? Shouldn't all children have the chance to know where their roots lie?" Yugi knew he couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

"I … I guess you're right …" He said. Atem's eyes widened when he said that. "But … but I don't want to get to know them; I love my dad and I don't want a new one." Friedman was getting annoyed.

"Ugh, no further questions …" Yugi's chin was shivering a mile a minute.

"You may step down, Yugi." Yugi did as told and went back to sit by Uncle Marik, who nudged him in the elbow and smiled, trying to get Yugi to cheer up. It didn't work very well.

---

During the recess, Atem held Yugi the entire time, telling him that it would all work out and that they could go home soon. Once the trial regrouped, it was time for the decision to be made. Despite all the abuse that Yugi's parents had given him in his life, Don Friedman was able to convince the judge and jury that the couple couldn't possibly have done any of those things simply because they had never been in his life. Bakura was finding this harder then he expected. Now, it all came down to this. Judge Heth let out a deep sigh.

"Given the information that has been brought up during this hearing, I have come to a decision. Would both parties please stand?" Atem and Bakura stood up as did the couple and Friedman. "Mr. Darkling," Atem gulped from just hearing his name, "You have proven that you are a good and responsible father for this young child." Hope found its way into Atem's system, but was crashed just as quickly as it came. "However, this court must side with the biological parents of the child. Not only would he discover his roots, but he also deserves a mother and a father." Atem gasped as tears made their way down his face. "Custody of the minor child, Yugi, goes to Jack and Olga Moto."

"No!" Atem and Bakura said together.

"NOOOOOOO!" Yugi screamed.

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End of Chapter