about a year later… (Gabby is ten, Emily and Maya are both twenty eight)

Emily POV:

Today Maya and I had to be at court. Cassandra went through with her threat and is actually taking us to court for custody. Maya is beyond pissed but I have to keep my cool. I know the ropes and I know this is not going to be an open and shut case. We talked to Gabby about it and she didn't really say anything except, "I don't want to be with her I want to stay with you."

"Gabby, it's time to go or you're going to be late." I yelled up to her. she came walking down the stairs with her book bag on. she was in the fifth grade. I remember when she was just four and now six years later my baby is ten.

"Where is mama?"

"I'm right here." Maya said walking out of the kitchen with Gabby's lunch box. "Here you go sweetie." she kissed Gabby's cheek and we walked to the car locking the house up.

"Moms are you scared?"

"For what?" I asked looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"About going to court."

"We're nervous." I said speaking for both of us because I knew that wasn't going to be Maya's answer. we dropped Gabby off at school and headed towards the courthouse. we waited four hours until we were finally called into the court room. Sandra was sitting at the table on the right with her lawyer and we walked left sitting at our table to the left with our lawyer, no other than Mrs. Hastings. Spencer told her what was going on and she offered to do the case pro-bono. I offered to pay but she refused saying, 'it would feel wrong, you're like a daughter to me and that little angel is like my own grandchild. give me the honor of doing this.' I was I suppose to oppose after that speech.

"All rise." the bailiff said as the judge walked into the court room. we all sat down and listen to the judge opening saying.

"Okay Mr. Wilson, your client is asking for custody of her daughter?"

"Yes your honor."

"Why was custody lost in the first place?"

"she still has maternal rights to the child but Mrs. Hastings clients hold custody through the adoption of the child."

"Is all the paper work present?"

"Yes your honor I have all of the paper work that my clients' have provided." Mrs. Hasting said standing handing the bailiff that papers.

"Mrs. Hastings, can your client explain how she adopted the child without the mother giving up the rights of the child." Veronica nodded her head and looked at me and I stood.

"Your honor about six years ago, I came home from my office in Philadelphia. when I arrived home it was raining and there was a little girl sitting on my front porch. she had a duffle bag with her and she was crying. when I went through the bag I found a letter that is in the paper work Mrs. Hasting gave you."

I stopped as she held up a finger to read the letter. she nodded her head and I continued.

"I realized her mother was not coming back for her and I didn't want to call social service just yet because I knew she was scared. after spending the day with her I fell in love with her. the following week I contact a family law lawyer I knew and had the paper work filed that I need to make this child mines."

"Ms. Rodriguez, why would you leave a child, let alone your own, on the side of the road?"

"Ma'am I was on drugs and the situation I was in was not good for her. I needed help and that's what I left to go do."

"couldn't the child be left in the custody of a family member?"

"At the time my family refused to talk to me. I haven't talked to them ten years prior to me doing what I did."

"Why not call social service?"

"I was not thinking."

"clearly I see that. What is it that your client would like Mr. Wilson?"

"Custody of her child."

"You do know that custody will not be granted immediately but I will allow visitation with the child. I feel that the paper work that Ms. Rodriguez has provided that she has gotten her life together. she has a stable job, a stable job and decent income."

Maya squeezed my hand so hard at what the judge said and I thought she broke it. I was just as heated and blood boiling about this as she was but I had to control myself. I might have to stand in front of this judge with a case on day and I need her to have a good impression on me.

"Mrs. Fields-St. Germains, I understand that this is a hard time for you but it is impairative that this child get to know her biological mother. Ms. Rodriguez visitation will be supervised by either one or both of you. It will be at public location like a park every Saturday."

I lean over and whisper something in Veronica's ear and she nods.

"Are there any questions?"

"Yes your honor, my clients will like to know would their daughter's extracurricular activities that she has to attend on Saturday be changed?"

"what and when are they?"

"she takes piano and violin lessons. she takes dance classes and swimming lessons. on Saturday she usually has swimming at ten in the morning til' two that afternoon. following that she goes to her dance class which is from three til' five."

"she is a busy child."

"Yes your honor this are things she asked to be put into."

"are there anything else?"

"She also goes to an art and music studio with my wife but that is not on Saturday though." she nods her head and looks down in front of her. "well, the visitation will be changed from every Saturday to every Sunday for two hours. if the child would like to cut it short that is allowed, if the parents of this child feel you are being inappropriate they may cut it short." she looked up as she stopped writing and looked at me.

"I know that you know the rules of a supervised visitation Mrs. Fields, I expect the same rules to apply."

"yes your honor."

she explained a little more information and dismissed us from her courtroom. Maya walked out before anyone else could. when we finally got downstairs to the car Maya was nowhere to be found.

"Where is she?" i said looking around the parking lot.

"She upset she probably just went to cool down."

"I'm upset to that doesn't give her the right to just walk off like that."

"Emily, calm down. she is nearby she wouldn't leave without you. Now this visitation she has Sunday, do it by the rules. If you don't that's only going to give her a way in even more. The social worker that is working with her will be present also. you are going to meet at the Forest Park park. it's a great distance away from your house and it's a family environment." I nodded my head and took a deep breath when I seen Maya walking towards me. she still looked mad but a little less hostle.

"You okay?" I asked and she nodded her head.

"Maya I am going to make sure everything goes right with this trust me."

"I trust you and thank you."

"it's no problem. I'll you see girls later and tell Gabby I said hi."

"Well do and please tell the girls I said hey." she nodded giving us both a hug and walking away.

"Hungry?" I asked Maya once we were seated in the car.

"Yeah."

"What do you want?"

"The Varsity."

"What is that?"

"Some of the best food in Atlanta." she said as if I should have known that."

"You know how to get there?"

"Yeah switch seats." Once we switched seats we headed to The Varsity. she drove up the ramp to park upstairs. they had a car hop service where the waiter comes outside to take your order but she said we had to go inside to get the experience. "Let's go." we walked inside and every single table was full. I seen children was uniforms on eating and was walked down a few stairs and seen old people eating hot dogs. this place was packed. we finally make it to the ordering part and there is so many people here.

"We're going to be here forever."

"No we're not this is going to be fast."

I hear a lot of commotion and 'What will you have, what will you have!' being yelled by the cashiers.

"Oh, know what you want before you get up there. you have to know what you want."

"I want a cheese dog with fries and a sprite." she nodded her head and we stepped forward. there was one person in front of us and he had his food a minute after her ordered it.

"What will you have, what will you have!"

"Can I have a double cheese burger with everything, a cheese dog hold the chilli, a medium fries and a order of onion rings with two sprites." she paid for the food and just like the man before we got our food a minute later. There were so many people back there working moving at a fast pace. I could never do that job and I applaud them for that.

"Come on lets find a table." we walked back towards the entrance and found a table to the left by the windows. Maya hands me my food and she looks at me while i took a bite of my hot dog.

"Mhm, oh my god that is good."

"Yes it is. but these onion rings are the best." she said taking a bite. "Here try it."

"Oh god that is good." we ate and I was in heaven this food was so good. we finish eating and she decided she wanted to go shopping downtown. We went to over a dozen small boutique buying clothes and shoes. it was time to go get Gabby from school and we left.

Maya POV:

"Mama, can I go to the dance Friday?" Gabby asked as soon as she got in the car.

"hey mama, hey mom. Hey Gabby how was school? great, mama can I go to the dance Friday. I don't know Gabby your mom and I need to talk about it. okay. well Gabby are you hungry?"

"Okay mama I get it, gosh." I smiled and Emily started to laugh. "You know you could have just said hi to my question."

"I know but you needed to see how the conversation was supposed to go."

"and yes I am hungry."

"What would you like?"

"Chinese." I drove around the corner and got her some Chinese food before heading home.

"I'm going upstairs to sleep." I said not wanting to be up anymore. I am emotionally and mentally drained from this morning I need to sleep and recharge. I put on sweat pants and a tank top, crawl under the cover and put my head into the pillow.

the week goes by fast and Sunday is finally here. We get ready and head to the park to meet Cassandra. when we get to the park I can see Sandra and the social worker talking. Sandra looks at us and smiles. I stop and turn to look at Emily and Veronica.

"Mrs. Hastings, can you take Gabby to get some ice cream please?"

"Maya—"

"I know she gets two hours, this won't cut into that I just—we just need to know some things before hand." she nods and I look down to Gabby. "Go with nanny Veronica while we talk to Sandra first."

she didn't say anything and left with Veronica. when we finally reached Sandra and the social worker neither were pleased.

"I get two hours. where is she going?" Sandra yelled.

"To get ice cream."

"Mrs. St. Germain, that's against—"

"She is coming back and she gets her two hours, but before I sit my ten year old daughter in front of the woman that abandoned her we need questions answered. I don't care what a judge or a social worker say." Sandra looked at the social worker and nodded her head. we sat at the picnic next to us and I took a deep breath.

"Why?" was the first thing I asked. Emily grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Why did you leave her like that?"

"I was on drugs, I needed help."

"couldn't you have gave her to family?"

"they wouldn't talk to me because of the drugs and they didn't know I had her."

"social services could have helped."

"no I didn't want them to have her. I wanted her."

"You abandoned her. you didn't have her."

"I know."

"answer this. she has dreams of men and you screaming, being put in a closet while you yelled. what was that?"

"she remembers that?"

"Yeah and had it quick frequently when she was younger."

"my boyfriend, well suppler. she never really seen him . I tried my hardest to kept him and the drugs away from her. he would beat me, if I didn't do what he wanted. when he would start hitting me I would run to the living room and put her in the closet locking it so he couldn't get to her. I never knew if he would hurt her but I knew that was safe for her. I didn't want her to see that I couldn't help what she hear."

"Where you on drugs when you had her?"

"no I was clean. I was using when I got pregnant but I found out early enough to quit without her having withdrawals."

"Has she never been molested?"

"No."

"She dreams about that too."

"what is the dream about?" the social worker asked.

"She said a man comes in her room and he touches her." Emily said and the social worker nods.

"He never touched her. I remember that day it was before her birthday. I woke up and he wasn't in bed but his stuff was there so I knew he was. Gabby had her own room and own bed and was never in mines. I ran to her room and he was there, standing in her room watching her sleep. I beat him because he could have touched her. he left and I packed her stuff." she stopped wiping her face of the tears that fell. "I put her clothes and everything else in the bag. I took her to the library and fixed the birth certificate. went home got the keys to his car and drove from New York to Rosewood. it looked nice and I seen families so I left her. I told her I'll be back and left."

"you never came back though." Emily spoke up wiping her eyes.

"I went home got some drugs. got high for three days straight then went to rehab. it took a year to get straight but I got my crap together."

"why now? why come back now? she is ten!"

"I know how old she is I gave birth to her! I missed my daughter every single day! there wasn't a day I didn't think of her! but I couldn't just get her and take her back to a hell hole! I got my shit together, got a better job and a nicer apartment. I left the drugs alone, got my family back the only thing I'm missing is my daughter Gabby!"

"we raised her for six years! she calls us mama!"

"I don't care you will never be her mother!"

"you think it takes birth to call yourself a mother."

"I'm her mother whether you like it or not."

"Ladies!" the social worker said and I sat back down and out Sandra's face.

"Who is her father?"

"His name is Emmanuel Blackwell. He is black and Puerto Rican and he is dead."

"How did he die?" Emily asked softly.

"Drive-by, stray bullet hit him." she wiped her face against before speaking. "He seen her, he loved her, he named her."

"I thought her last name was Rodriguez?"

"It is her original last name. he said he didn't like his last name with her name."

"look she will be back soon but I need to know before her. Does she have any other siblings?"

"Yeah, five others. Three older, two younger." My eyes grew wide in shock. how old was she? before I could ask I seen Gabby and Veronica coming back.

"Mama, I got you and Mami a limemade."

"Thanks baby." she sat in between Emily and I and looked at Cassandra.

"Are you my real mom?"

"Yeah I gave birth to you."

"What's your name?"

"Cassandra, but you can call me Sandra or Cassie."

"okay."

"tell me about yourself?"

"I am a singer, artist, dancer, swimmer and a play lots of instruments."

"What kind of instruments?"

"Piano, guitar, violin, cello, drums, and that's it."

"that's a lot."

"yeah but I want to play them all. Mama teaches me and I got to lessons."

"you can asked me something if you want to know it."

"How old are you?"

"I'm thirty-five."

"You don't look that old." I spoke up and she smiled. she had a really pretty smile.

"thank you. I'm glad drugs didn't take a toll."

"do I have brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah you have a lot."

"How many?" Gabby perked up at the sound of that.

"You have three sisters and two brothers."

"How old are they?" Emily asked.

"The youngest two are mines and they are two and one. the older three are her dad's and they are twenty, eighteen, and sixteen. He would be forty today."

"Can I meet them?"

"One day yes you can but we have to work there."

"why did you leave me?"

"I was doing drugs and I knew… that they would take better care of you then I could then."

This is how the rest of the two hours went, us talking. I hated that she wants Gabby back but at least Gabby got some questions she asked answered. We stood to leave and Sandra stood as well.

"Can I have a hug?" She asked Gabby and she stood next to us not moving. "Sabes espanol?" (do you know Spanish.)

"Si, mi mama me enseno." (yes my mama taught me.)

"bueno quiero que sepas que te amo mucho mi amor." (good, I want you to know that I love you very much my love.) "No importa lo que sucede tiene mi Corazon." (no matter what happens you have my heart."

Gabby smiled and gave Sandra a hug. "Bye Sandra." Gabby said waving goodbye.

"Bye bebe."

A/N: That's how I'm gonna end this chapter. I hoped you enjoyed and there will be more Sandra next chapter. Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Review and tell me what you like, don't like and/or want to see.

***Lost in Love will be updated soon. I have writers block for that story.***