Hey guys- sorry the updates aren't closer together! i'm trying to get chapter 9 typed up, but my mom keeps kicking me off of the computer, so i have no clue when that'll be up. i'm going to texas on tuesday and i'm trying to get the rest of the story(and maybe even the beginning of the sequel)typed up before i go(there are 13 chapters) so i'll only have to worry about the sequel when i get home(i already have 5 chapters for it written). so yea. i hope you guys like this one, um, i don't think there's too much for me to say, except i basically don't know shit about emancipation cases and all this legal crap(yet i think i'd make the perfect lawyer...) but since that's not the whole point of the story i didn't pay too much attention to getting it right, so i just kinda made up my own little emancipation process. so anyways, i hope you guys enjoy it and please please please review!

oh yea, i also don't own maureen or joanne, the amazing jonathan larson does, but alexa and her parents are all mine :-D


"Pookie, I have to pee really really bad," Maureen whined, "can you stop for a minute, PLEASE?

"Maureen, I already told you, there's no place where we can stop for at least another thirty minutes, so you're going to have to hold it." I looked away from the road for a minutes so I could give her my infamous reassuring smile, but stopped when I saw that she was about to cry. "Aw, Honeybear, I'm sorry. I promise I'll stop at the first chance I get, just please don't cry. Not with Alexa in the back seat." She giggled and tried to smile, despite the paint she was in. I turned my concentration back to the road and tried to focus on driving, but it was hard because I couldn't stand to know that she was in pain, even if it wasn't serious.

We drove in silence for about 20 minutes before Alexa woke up. She had fallen asleep across the seat and I watched her in the rear-view mirror as she sat up. Her dark hair was a meson top of her head and her eyeliner smeared across her face as she rubbed her eyes.

"Are we almost there? I need to go to the bathroom." I looked at her in the rear-view mirror and let out a sigh.

"Like I was just telling Maureen, I'll stop when I get a chance to, unless you want to go in the bushes."

"Actually, Pookie, that sounds like a good idea."

I turned and looked at her. Was she serious? My Maureen, the drama queen, wanted to pee in a bush? Then again, she was pregnant, and pregnant women have been known to do some pretty crazy things.

"I like that idea, too." Alexa said as she shifted in her seat.

"Ok, I'll pull over in a minute, as soon as I see a place where you can pee."

After the two of them had finished relieving themselves and gotten back in the car Alexa started to complain that she was hungry, which reminded Maureen that she was too. I leaned back against my seat and closed my eyes. I had no idea how I was going to survive the two hours we had left, plus make it through dinner with Alexa's parents. Oh shit. I quickly sat back up and turned around to face Alexa.

"You called your parents and told them that we were coming today, right?" I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to call them; I never forgot. What kind of lawyer was I turning into?

"Yea, I called them. They know." She didn't sound too convincing, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume it was because she was preoccupied looking through her backpack for food. "Hey Mo, did you bring any food?"

"Did you just call her Mo?" Did I just say that out loud? Maureen put her hand on my arm. "Pookie, relax. Everyone calls me Mo." She looked at me and I thought she was going to cry. Shit. I must've sounded really mad. I smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I know. I'm just a little tired from driving." I turned back to the steering wheel and started driving again, praying that we'd get to a restaurant soon because I began to realize how hungry I was.

Almost four hours later I was pulling up in front of a small two-story house in a quiet neighborhood. I stopped the car and looked back at Alexa who nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders. I looked at Maureen as I took off my seatbelt and opened my door. "Here goes nothing."

The three of us stood at the door waiting for someone to open it. Next to the actual hearing, meeting with Alexa's parents was the most important, and usually most difficult, part of an emancipation. Standing there I realized that I was the only one who seemed to care about what they were wearing- Maureen was wearing black sweatpants and her infamous tank top that showed her belly, and Alexa was in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, her eyeliner still smeared across her face. I tried to imagine what this must be like for her, what she must have gone through to want this emancipation so bad. I turned to face the door just as it was being opened.

"Hi. My name is Joanne Jefferson and I'm Alexa's attorney." I stuck my hand out and the man who opened the door shook it.

"Come in. We're very anxious to hear Alexa's side of this story." He stepped back and held the door open as we walked in- first me, then Maureen, and then a very pissed looking Alexa. We followed him into what I assumed was their family room where he motioned for us to sit on the couch. I placed my briefcase on the coffee table before sitting down. Maureen Sat next to me and placed her head on my shoulder. "Not now, baby." I whispered into her ear. She pouted at me, but reluctantly sat back up. Shortly after the three of us were situated on the couch, a woman who I assumed was Alexa's mom entered and sat in a chair on the other side of the room. Figuring I should break the awkward silence surrounding us, I opened up my briefcase and pulled out Alexa's case folder. The silence grew louder, so I cleared my throat before crossing my legs and opening Alexa's folder.

"I'm pretty sure that everyone knows why we're here, but before we begin I wanted to get a few things out of the way." I placed Alexa's folder out on the coffee table and pulled some papers out. "From what I understand, you both are aware that Alexa wished to be emancipated from you two, correct?" They nodded their heads. "Now, under any other circumstance we typically would not require a face-to-face meeting with the parents, but it will be hard to convince a judge to allow Alexa to be emancipated without parental consent, considering her situation." I turned and looked at Alexa who was looking at her hands that were folded in her lap. I turned back to look at her parents. "The first thing that I need to know is whether or not you support her wish to be emancipated."

There was a moment of silence as I waited for her parents to answer. Her father opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get a chance because her mother began to talk.

"I'm going to say right now that I do not understand why Alexa would ever want to leave us and I do not think she is ready to live on her own, but I know that both her and Cynthia are not going to give up until she's out of here, however," she uncrossed her legs and then recrossed them before continuing, "I won't cause any trouble if she would agree to be adopted by another family. I have been thinking about this the past few days, and this seems like the best and easiest option for her and us. So whatever needs to be filled out or signed for that, I'll do it and we can just get this over with."

I didn't know what to say. I had heard some crazy stories about emancipation cases gone wrong, but I'd never heard this before. I turned my head and saw that Alexa was now sitting up, looking at her mother. "So, um, Alexa, do you want to do that?" She continued glaring at her mother as she answered me.

"I don't care. As long as I get the hell out of here, I'm fine."

"Ok, well that completely changes the nature of this case, and I don't have anything we'd need to arrange and adoption with me right now," I said as I closed up Alexa's folder and put it back in my briefcase. This meant that we could go home tonight if we left soon. "That means that I'll have to send you the papers when I get back to New York. Other than that, I have nothing else. If you guys don't have anything to add, then we can get going back to New York."

"I want to get my stuff." Alexa said.

"Is that ok?" I asked her mom, who nodded. "Ok Alexa, just don't take to long. I think we're about to lose Maureen." Maureen had laid her head on my shoulder and she look like she was going to fall asleep any minute.

Both Maureen and Alexa slept the entire ride home. When we got back to the building I was able to wake Alexa and get her to walk up to the apartment, but I wasn't as lucky with Maureen who insisted on being carried back. After I placed her on her side of the bed I collapsed next to her and fell asleep.


did you guys like it? love it? hate it? whatever you thought, please please please REVIEW! the more reviews i get the more inclined i am to get the next chapter up... so yea. if you review chapter nine will be up sooner!