Author's Note: Hello, everyone, this is my second C.O.P.S. fanfic project. This one has been dancing in my head for quite awhile now, so I decided to quit procrastinating and get on it.

The last time I started this, I posted this on a Monday night, and it still hadn't shown up in the C.O.P.S. sub-category in the cartoon section. So I'm re-posting this chapter in hopes it will show up quicker than four days. (LOL) WARNING: This is a romantic fic containing violence, strong language and some steamy love scenes, but NO NC-17 stuff. This is a romantic drama, NOT pornography. (I don't do that kind of crap!) May contain some controversial themes and decision-making, so if you want to debate, don't do it in the reviews, that's not what they're there for, instead leave me an e-mail, my address is in my bio. Please read, review and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of the cartoon C.O.P.S. or any of the series' syndicated characters. The only characters in here that are mine are my heroine, Valerie Boston, and her family, including her son, Jeremy, her (unfortunately) husband, Tom (who makes Jonathan from the Amazing Race look like a sweetheart... LOL), as well as lawyer Janet Lisbon.

Valerie

Chapter 1

The doting mother Valerie Boston had packed up her whole life and moved out of her nightmarish home in Parrish, Indiana. She had come home from grocery shopping to a horrific scene in the living room. Her husband was belting their ten-year-old son, Jeremy, severely, the boy bent over in a praying position, crying and screaming. He wasn't drunk like he usually was when he was beating him. But he was certainly loud, angry and vicious. Calling Jeremy stupid and worthless, and how could he screw up the way he did, every third word being a curse. Except Valerie didn't know what Jeremy did.

She didn't know what Jeremy ever did. She knew the boy was almost a saint.

She threw down her bags and ran over to rescue her son. When the leather end of the belt flew her way, she grabbed it and tried to wrestle it out of the man's hand. She screamed, "Tom, stop it! Give me that goddamn belt!"

"Valerie, don't you dare come to his defense!" Tom screamed back at her. He picked up Jeremy's latest report card on the coffee table and showed it to her. F's in Math, French and Science, a D in Social Studies, and B's and C's in everything else except Art, which he got an A. "I am sick and fucking tired of this bullshit from him. I'm only getting him to smarten the hell up!"

"Well, you can see why he's this way, right!" Valerie yelled. "It's because you were shaking him when he was a baby, you bastard! You know he has permanent learning disabilities because of that! The doctor said he'll have to drop Science when he gets to middle school, and Math when he gets to high school. And he can't take History come high school, either! But you don't give a shit about any of it, do you!"

The parents were wrestling over the belt again. During the struggle, Valerie called at Jeremy, "Run, Jeremy! Run to your room, shut the door and lock it!" Jeremy ran as he was told, hobbling quickly. Tom gave her a sharp glare and went to the kitchen. Seconds later, he came back out, drunker and meaner than ever. He shoved her onto the couch and began belting her like he did Jeremy.

"You lousy, stupid, lazy little BITCH!" Tom screamed at her. "You're always molly-coddling and spoon-feeding that boy! No wonder our neighbors don't come around! You're always using his disability as a fucking excuse for his actions! Everyone thinks you're a horrible parent! Sometimes I think you need boot camp just as much as he does!"

"No!" she whispered angrily. "It's you who's the horrible parent! You're always drinking and beating the fuck out of that boy whenever you feel like it! You can't do that, you know it! You were the one who was shaking him when he was baby, Tom! You! And why? Because you never wanted to have a child in the first place!"

She knew that was exactly the reason why. When Tom and Valerie first got married, he told her flatly that he didn't want any children, even though she was anxious to have one. She agreed for the first two years, then started having unprotected sex with him, hoping he would change his mind. She was poking holes in all his condoms, throwing out the birth control pills he gave her, spreading her legs and begging in a sexual manner. Finally, she took him, and after only twelve minutes, managed to get pregnant. She was two months along when she first found out, it was close to Christmas. She was so excited, she told her husband as an early gift. But as soon as she told him, he became furious.

"Get an abortion!" he demanded. "I told you I didn't want any children!"

She was almost tearful. "But I told you that I wanted to start a family," she pleaded

"Valerie, dammit!" he screamed. "I've been running my father's men's recreation business for five years now! Sporting goods, sports clothing, tools galore! I have clientele flocking here from all over the goddamn state, for fuck's sake! I'm ready to open more stores statewide, maybe even nationwide. Do you have any idea what a baby will do to all that! What the hell are you trying to do, ruin me?"

"That's not fair!" she cried. "You know my two sisters already have two kids each. I want to tell my parents; they're going to be so excited!"

"They don't understand my ambitions!" he yelled. "They want me to keep my business local so I can be a parent! I have dreams, Valerie! And parenthood is only going to get in the way of them."

She was forming tears now. "I'm not getting rid of it." With that, he went to their bedroom, packed his suitcases and left the house.

She didn't know where he was going to live. He stayed away until a month after she gave birth, forcing her to go through the pregnancy alone. When he came back, she introduced him to their baby son. But he immediately took the boy and threw him down on the floor.

"Valerie, you stupid headstrong bitch!" he said through clenched teeth. "You really don't get the 'obey' part of 'to love, honor and obey,' do you? Now you're going to give that baby up for adoption. You're not ruining my dreams for my business to go big!"

"Is that all you care about, business and money!" she squealed.

"My business keeps this roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, clothes on our damn backs! You may have a good career, but I'm the one who pays the bills here, not you." She wouldn't give in, and he started to leave again. But she wouldn't let him go.

"You are going to stay here and be a father to that boy!" she insisted. "Jeremy's not going to grow up without a father. I'll be damned if that happens!"

She meant what she said, and he stubbornly gave in. He picked up baby Jeremy and threw him back down in his crib. Jeremy was crying louder than ever. His mother was more than horrified, but she was hoping he'd straighten up and be a father she knew he could be.

But Valerie knew he wouldn't. Tom spent many hours of the day at his job, and he was nothing but cruel at home. Whenever Jeremy came up to him wanting to play, Tom would just shove him away just so he could drink. (He'd started drinking while he was away from the home.) Every time he heard him cry, Tom would make him be quiet by shaking and slapping him, often severely. He wouldn't let Valerie do anything to stop him. By the time Jeremy was two years old, he had been shaken so much, he had developed moderate brain damage. His mother believed the boy was lucky enough. And yet, Jeremy kept getting regular beatings whether or not he misbehaved.

As a result, while he could develop excellent social skills, he was very slow at certain school subjects. Tom would never do anything to help him with his studies, just yell and beat him whenever he came home with a poorly-graded Math and Science test. Right from kindergarten, Jeremy had been barely passing every grade level, only with C averages. Valerie felt helpless about this; she knew his brain damage was the cause for her son's poor academic performance. But Tom only believed it was just a, "stupid excuse," and he always said the same thing: "You're not pushing him hard enough!"

Over and over, she begged him to get help for his anger, but he stubbornly refused. He said the same thing every time: "There ain't nothing wrong with me! I'm just doing what fathers should do to their sons!" The Boston family became very popular with social services and the family court system, not in a good way, though. Jeremy was removed from the home six times since he was three. And Tom had taken this to family court every time. The judges had always ordered that Jeremy return to his parents because they believed, "a good beating is good for the child, regardless of whether or not they're disabled." Valerie felt defeated, the authorities thinking of her as an unfit mother.

All this time, Valerie stayed around because she wanted Jeremy to have a father. And she loved him so much, she couldn't picture life without him – or she thought she did. Now she knew she must leave the state, and Tom. But she wondered how she would fare as a single mother of a special needs child.

She got up from the couch, took the belt and starting belting his chest.

"Ow, stop it!" he yelled. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Hurting you the way you hurt us!" Valerie retorted. She whacked him hard ten more times, then threw the belt against the living room wall. "Enough! No more! I'm leaving you and I'm taking my son with me. My son! Not yours, mine! And I can find a father for him. Someone who will give him affectionate love! Someone who'll love him just as he loves me!"

She turned away from him, as if he was some hideous mutant fish. "You don't love me! You never even wanted this family! All you care about is your business and your material wealth! Well, you can have it! You've lost us! And believe me, we'll be going somewhere to improve ourselves. I don't know where, but I hope you never find out!"

Tom pushed past her, en route to their bedroom. Ten minutes later, he came out with a small bag packed. He walked out of the house, stomping, slamming the door. Valerie watched him at the window, getting into his truck and driving off. Three days, maybe a week, she thought. Maybe then, he'll cool off. But she didn't care if he cooled off or not; she was determined to get her son out of the house before he got home.

She went to Jeremy's bedroom and knocked on the door. He unlocked and opened it. She bent down to his eye level.

"Honey, your father's gone now," she said happily, yet solemnly. He'll be gone all evening, and perhaps all night. I don't know when he's coming home, really. But after dinner, you and I are going to pack as many things as we can and find somewhere else to live for a while. Once everything is in order, we'll move to a different city."

Valerie ordered two three-piece chicken meals to be delivered. The tab came to $10.49. She decided to use her husband's money. She wondered if she should take as much as she can with her. Make him literally pay for all the hell he caused.

After they ate, she went to the laundry room for four suitcases. She gave two to Jeremy, and some boxes for toys and books, and said, "Pack as many things as you can, and I'll check up on you in two hours. We have to leave quickly, okay?"

"Okay, Mom," he said. He took the bags and boxes, and went to his room.

Valerie took the other two suitcases to the master bedroom. She opened her closet and packed all she kept in there, her nightgowns, her sweaters, her dresses and blouses, in the first suitcase. She opened her dresser drawers for her shirts, pants, underwear, bras and socks. She took her whole jewelry box and put it gently in the second suitcase. She finished her packing with the three romance books she owned, then took her bags to the front door.

She went to Jeremy's room to find both his suitcases filled with clothes. He was filling his boxes with stuffed animals and toy cars, and books and travel games. She said to him, "This is really good packing, sweetie," then closed both suitcases and put them out with her luggage. When Jeremy had packed enough toys and boxes, she closed them up and took them out with the others.

They were taking everything out to the family's station wagon now. While they were loading it, Jeremy asked, "Where... are we... going to... stay, Mom? Are... we... going to... come home?" He was speaking clearly, but at a slow rate.

Valerie stopped, looked right at her son and shook her head. "No, we're not coming back here," she answered. "Not as long as your father still lives here. First, we'll be stopping at the police station to put a restraining order on your father, then we'll rent a hotel room for a while." She squatted to his eye level. "Jeremy, I'm going to divorce your father."

Wordlessly, they went back to the house for the rest of their things. When everything was loaded into the vehicle, they drove off to the police station. There, they went to the police chief's office to file a restraining order against Thomas James Boston.

"We fight a lot about our son, Jeremy," she told the chief. "He verbally assaults me, and physically on occasion, for trying to protect him, but I feel I have to. He has drinking and anger problems he won't admit to, and he smacks Jeremy around for doing poorly at school and stupid little things, drunk or not. I know normally you would dismiss that last part as old-fashioned discipline, but Jeremy has mental disabilities, and I don't think he's ever going to know any better." She was almost crying, but tried fighting these feelings.

"Mental and learning disabilities," the chief repeated, looking alarmed, studying what he wrote. "Mrs. Boston, was Jeremy ever shaken as a baby?"

"A lot," Valerie answered. "Whenever we heard Jeremy crying, I had to get up and follow Tom just to see what he would do. Sure enough, he wouldn't hesitate to shake Jeremy rapidly. He would only do it for a minute, but sometimes I couldn't stop him."

Shocked, the chief replied, "Shaken excessively? Mrs. Boston, you should consider yourself grateful Jeremy is still alive. Normally, children who were shaken as much as your son would be in one of those little coffins six feet under. All of your husband's actions toward him go far beyond 'old-fashioned discipline.' I think we have enough evidence to file that order against him."

She nodded, smiling. "Thank you, sir. I haven't felt this happy my whole marriage."

"We'll get the order out first thing in the morning."

"Thank you again. I'll call you as soon as I have a place to stay." She shook the chief's hand, took her son and left the station.

Next, they drove to the Best Western Inn to see about renting a room. Valerie had no family members living in town, she was worried about Tom tracking her down and getting her at friends' houses, and she didn't want to go to a shelter. She told this to the people at the registration desk. When she was asked about shelters, she replied, "I don't want my son and me to be sleeping on the small, uncomfortable cots, being served unappetizing meals as if we're homeless. That wouldn't be in Jeremy's best interest… or mine."

The clerk made her wait while she went into the back to talk to her boss. Minutes later, she came back out with a special residence form attached to a clipboard. "Ma'am, I'm going to have you just fill out this form and return it to me," she said.

Valerie filled it out promptly, her personal information, and special information about Jeremy. Under "Reason for Residence," she wrote, Hiding out from husband, Thomas James Boston, filed restraining order, security required. She attached a recent photograph she had of Tom, so the staff could recognize him and turn him away.

Under "Length of Residence": Length of divorce proceedings; will be requesting quick process.

When she was finished, she handed the clipboard back to the registration clerk. She smiled at her and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Boston. I'll go run this by the owner." She went to the back and, a few minutes later, came back to give Valerie her room key. They had Room 213, and the registration clerk said, "I'll have your personalized name plate ready for you in about an hour."

Valerie and Jeremy went up to their room and looked around in it. Two single beds separated by a night-table with a cherry oak finish. Across from the beds were a color TV with a remote and small movie guide on top, and a small table next to it with two chairs. Beside the TV was a dresser with six drawers. Valerie frowned. It wasn't enough to hold every clothing item they took, especially when there was no closet space.

"I guess we'll have to leave some of our things in our bags," she told Jeremy. "You can have the three bottom drawers. I want you to put all your underwear, socks and pants in the very bottom drawer. Jeans and t-shirts go in your middle one, and everything else in your top one." He nodded, and while he was unpacking, Valerie called the police headquarters to confirm her location, to help complete the restraining order.

"Excellent," the chief said. "We'll get the order out first thing in the morning."

First thing the next morning, she called Janet Lisbon, their family lawyer.

At her appointment three days later, Valerie fought every urge to cry as she told Janet about her latest fight with Tom, including the fight over his belt and the restraining order. Janet was taking notes and looking sympathetic.

"Valerie, it seems you have a very good case," she said. "All this belting because Jeremy has learning problems beyond his control. Child cruelty doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm more than confident that the judge will grant you sole custody of the boy."

Valerie sighed relievingly. "Well, it's good to know some good will come out of this. But I really need to get out of this town as soon as possible. Move to another small town or a larger city, where Tom won't track me or Jeremy down. I know I can only stay at the Best Western for so long."

Janet frowned. "It's that bad, is it? Well, you won't have to worry. I'm sure with all this going on over this single issue, we can get this case resolved in two months, tops. Unless there's something else, like adultery issues. You say Tom runs his own business. Do you think he may be having an affair with a female employee, or maybe a longtime female client?"

"No," Valerie answered. "He had left me while I was pregnant, and told me that he'd been sleeping with a younger woman while he was gone. But that was a long time ago, and we've pretty much forgotten her. Sometimes, when he was working late into the morning, or gone for days on business trips, I'd ask if he'd been sleeping with anyone from work. He'd always assure me that he would never cheat on me, despite our problems." She started to sniffle, and immediately grabbed some tissues. "Those were the only times he was ever nice to me."

"It's going to be all right, Valerie," Janet assured. "The important is that it's all going to come out in your favor."

Valerie stopped sobbing. "Thank you."

"No problem. And, thinking about Jeremy again, I'll need the phone number of his elementary school. I'll need to set up a meeting with his principal and guidance counselor, and all his teachers, former and current. I'll want evidence that his problems are largely due to his incurable brain damage, so we can use it against Tom. In fact, I'll probably need some of them to testify in court."

"That would be wonderful. And maybe get a hold of the local child protection agency, too, to see if we can track down that social worker who dealt with us years ago. I think maybe we'll need her help, too."

"I'll see what I can do," Janet replied. Valerie got up and shook her hand. "Thank you, Valerie, and I'll have the documents ready for you to sign in about a week or so."

"You're welcome, Janet, and thanks," Valerie replied. "See you." She left the office.

Over the next week, Valerie had been calling friends and family to inform them of the divorce. She also requested that they help her with the finances to finalize it. Not only did they agree, they were also thrilled with what was happening."

"I always knew Tom would change once you gave birth to Jeremy," her mother, Polly, said over a hissing connection from Empire City. "I'm glad you're finally leaving that asshole. If only you'd done it sooner…"

"Mother, please, I feel guilty enough," Valerie began.

"Valerie, anyone but Tom would've made a better father to that boy and you know it. I'm not buying that cover-up, young lady. Your sister, Karen, has told you that if you'd moved here to Empire City years ago, and into their neighborhood, she and her husband would look after Jeremy for you when you can't. Bart always said he'd be a better man for Jeremy than Tom ever would."

"Yes, I know, you're right. It's just that I was worried about depriving Jeremy of a chance to know his real father. I have friends and co-workers whose sons are in that category. Most of them are acting out of control and disrespectful, to their mothers and their 'fake' fathers, I've heard. I didn't want that for my son."

"Valerie," Polly said firmly, "a caring fake father is much better than an abusive real one."

It was a lot for her to think about. She knew her mother was right. Maybe she'd move to Empire City to be closer to her family. But what man would she find there to be a loving father to Jeremy? She knew she was an attractive woman with a sweet son, but who could love them both enough to make them a real family?

Still, she decided to herald Polly's advice. She said, "Mom, please send some literature on Empire City real estate."

So there you have Chapter 1. Don't worry, the C.O.P.S. and Empire City will be coming soon. I'm currently in the middle of Chapter 2 and will be posting it soon. Enjoy. :>)