Court Aftermath


"April, c'mon you gotta open up." Punk said, sitting on the edge of the bed in their bedroom, looking on at their bathroom door which was shut tightly, and which had been shut since they practically got home from court. JC had volunteered to look after Keala and Frankie for the night, and Punk took him up on the offer, "You come out or I come in." He said bluntly, listening to the sound of silence from inside the bathroom.

"Ok, I'm coming in." Punk shrugged, walking over to the door and opening it up, looking over at AJ sitting on the edge of the bath, "Hey." He said softly. He knew it had been a long and disappointing day for her.

"Hi." AJ nodded, watching as he closed the bathroom door over and sat down on the closed toilet across from her.

"You alright?" He asked her as she just shrugged, "Look I know this wasn't the plan but… she's got money. We don't know who she's paid to say things, and she's just attacking the fact that Dean's had alcohol problems and her own daughter has had… her own problems. There wasn't anything you could say or have done differently. You know that, right?" Punk said.

"Maybe I just suck as a lawyer." AJ shook her head.

"April." Punk said, "Don't. You were amazing up there, just like you always are. Anna didn't tell you about her… eating disorder, which made it harder for you to counter it, and no one knew they were gonna call dad to the stand and practically blame him for my mom's death, which was of course, Jean's intention from the start." He said, "It was unpredictable and no one blames you for anything." Punk assured her.

"But they should have had her back." AJ whimpered a little, "What if that was us? Our baby?" She asked as Punk nodded, "Could you imagine not being able to… hold it, see it…" AJ said, "I thought I could bring her home to them but… I pushed her away." She shook her head, rubbing her forehead tiredly as Punk placed his hand on her knee.

"You did nothing wrong. The judge saw two parents who were being called out on their flaws, compared to a wealthy, successful and visually stable woman." Punk said, "It's not right, but she extended the custody on that basis. It'll go to court again and we'll come back fighting even more." Punk nodded.

"Anna and Dean probably won't want me to represent them." AJ shook her head.

"Of course they will. They trust you, and they need someone they can trust right now." Punk said, "You can't beat yourself up about this. I know she's our niece and I know that it's so obvious she should be with her parents, but we're not gonna give up. Dean and Anna certainly won't." He said.

"They just ripped on Dean the full time, and then accusing JC of your mom's death… there was no relevance to any of it." AJ shook her head.

"She wanted her lawyer to say that to him." Punk nodded, "You know the story. She hates my dad. Thinks he took her best friend from her." He shrugged, "But you're right, that is irrelevant. What's important is Skyler and getting her back, and we will." Punk nodded, "This is just a little bump."

"Does Dean hate me?" AJ asked worriedly.

"No, of course he doesn't hate you." Punk said, "April this is not your fault. We're dealing with a very horrible, conniving, manipulative woman. She's gonna try and work her way around everything." He said, "But she'll get caught out eventually." He nodded as AJ sighed, "It's gonna be ok." He nodded, standing up as she stood up too, falling into his embrace as he hugged her tightly. They all needed to lean on each other for the time being.


"Are they ok?" Lydia asked, watching as JC walked out of the spare bedroom in his apartment where Keala and Frankie were sleeping.

"Yeah, they're good." JC nodded. It had been a long day for him also, especially after being accused and brought into the spotlight of something that still affected him to the day: his ex girlfriend's death.

"It didn't go well today but that doesn't mean that it won't go well the next time. We can all have our problems but if we get help and we're stable, which Dean and Anna are, then they should be allowed to have their own daughter with them." She said as JC nodded, sitting down on the sofa beside her.

"She's a wicked woman. Always was." JC shook his head. It was more personal between her and Jean than it was with his son's. There was more history, more stories and secrets, and he knew that she wanted to publicly accuse him in front of the court today.

"But what she accused you of… it's impossible. You were in prison." Lydia said as JC nodded.

"Yeah, I was." JC said, "She thinks I still had a… connection." He said, "Which.. is ridiculous. I… I loved Vanessa. I would have never… hurt her like that, I would never have been mad at her to that extent. She… she raised my kids on her own, for crying out loud. Put up with my shit more than anyone else did." He said as Lydia smiled and looked at him.

"Miss her?" Lydia asked him.

"I… it feels wrong of me to say yes because we… we became so distant and… she became… not a part of my life, not the way she used to be. But… yeah, I do. I do miss her a lot." JC nodded, looking down at the ground, "No one believed I actually cared about her. It seemed ridiculous that a guy who… picked drugs and alcohol over her could actually say he cared. But I did." JC said.

"I wish I could have met her." Lydia smiled.

"Oh, she would have hated you." JC shook his head as Lydia laughed a little and looked at him.

"Why?" She laughed lightly.

"Bit of the jealous type she was." JC smiled, "But so was I, so it worked both ways." He shrugged, "She would have let you in on how horrible a boyfriend I am. I can imagine her right now." He nodded to himself.

"If she was alive would you have… got back with her?" Lydia asked. She wasn't an idiot, she knew she was with a man who was very much in love in a previous relationship. It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

"I don't think so." JC shook his head, "It was difficult for us. Even more difficult because we did love each other, and it wasn't just a fling." He nodded, "And now I'm being investigated for her death." He rolled his eyes as Lydia frowned.

"Who is she?" Seventeen year old Vanessa asked, walking into JC's apartment where he lived with a foster brother who was barely there, "Huh?" She asked him, two months prior to finding out she was pregnant for the first time.

"What are you talking about?" JC rolled his eyes, sitting down on the sofa amongst the mess.

"Who is she?" Vanessa asked, "Jean said she saw you at the movies last night with your friends, and some girls… said you were getting awful comfortable with one of them."

"Jean says a lot of dumb shit." JC shook his head, reaching for the TV remote, pointing it over to the TV as Vanessa snatched it from him and threw it across the room as JC raised a brow and looked at her.

"Just tell me who she is then." Vanessa shrugged, "It's simple."

"You… you are crazy." JC shook his head, "I thought you were coming over to chill and do me, not yell at me because you think I'm cheating on you-"

"Are you?" Vanessa asked.

"No." JC scoffed, "Jean wants you to think that, because she hates me. No… no, she hates where I come from. She wants you and her to ride off into the sunset with rich boyfriends and really good degrees in some irrelevant shit, and have fancy lunch on a Tuesday at 2pm." JC said, "I wanna have pizza and fuck on a Tuesday at 2pm." He shrugged as Vanessa rolled her eyes, "And so do you, so don't roll your eyes."

"This isn't about Jean. This is about you hanging out with a bunch of girls who were apparently all over you." Vanessa said.

"They weren't all over me. Do you honestly think I'd cheat on you?" He raised a brow as Vanessa folded her arms, "No way am I finding anyone better than you." He shook his head as Vanessa smiled a little looking down at the ground, "Stop being ridiculous."

"Just tell me their names then." Vanessa said in a softer tone as JC smiled up at her.

"No, because then you'll go beat them up for just staring at me." He said, "Forget about them. They were for the rest of my single buddies." He shrugged.

"Well they better have been." Vanessa said, kicking his foot a little as he kicked her back lightly as she smiled.

"Stop being dramatic and sit down." He told her as she just shook her head, taking her jacket off and sitting down beside him.

"Why do you hate Jean so much?" Vanessa asked curiously.

"She's the one who has a problem with me. And I'm scared in case you two are lesbians." He admitted truthfully as Vanessa laughed.

"She's like a sister to me. That would be weird." Vanessa laughed a little, "She just cares about me that's all."

"I don't think she does." JC told her truthfully, "I think she just cares about herself and what she needs. Has she considered the fact you actually like me?" He asked, "I know, you're a cheerleader, you have straight As, you're the prettiest looking thing America will ever see… and I'm… me." JC nodded as Vanessa just looked at him and shook her head.

"I love you." Vanessa said, "And I think you're great. And handsome." She added as he smiled.

"I love you too." JC smiled, "Now take off your clothes." He smirked as she hit him with a cushion.

"Ok, now I hate you." She shook her head.


"You've not ate all day. You need to eat something." Anna said, looking over at Dean who was sat on the couch barely having touched any of the pizza they had ordered.

"I'm not hungry." Dean shook his head.

"You're gonna make yourself not well." Anna said.

They both found the day extremely tough of course, especially when the end result wasn't how they wanted. They hadn't lost hope, nor did they blame anyone but Jean for it happening, but it was still a terrible hard pill to swallow that their daughter still wouldn't get to come home, to her proper home for yet another few weeks, unless they pulled out something drastic.

"How much longer?" Dean shook his head, wiping his arm against his eyes, "Why is she doing this to us? And why didn't you ever tell me about your eating disorder?" He asked her.

"I don't know." Anna sighed, "Because it reminded me of my mom, and I didn't want to be reminded of that." She said, "I didn't think she would have the nerve to bring it up but she's as cold and calculous as what I thought she was so… she lived up to the expectations." She nodded, "it's not because I didn't want you to know. I just found it easier to deal with on my own." She said, "We're gonna get Skyler back, Dean." She sighed. At first she felt hopeless, and then she figured she had to fight for their baby girl. And it appeared that her and Dean were taking turns of being each other's support system.

"When?" Dean shrugged, "When she's five? Eight? 15?" Dean asked, "Whenever your mom gets fed up with her?" Dean shook his head, "How can one woman have that much power?" Dean shook his head.

"I-I don't know." Anna shook her head, "But she won't get away with it. She's… she's got money, that's why she's winning at this, but… she'll get caught out, just like AJ said." Anna nodded.

"No, I'm not… I'm not waiting around to get another trial just for us to be told no again. Our own daughter." Dean said, "She's playing people clearly. She's got a system. We know Sam is part of it. I think it's time we do our own investigating, see what the fuck she's really up to and who the hell is helping her with it all. Cause I'm not… I'm not waiting around. I'm not gonna have some stranger looking after my daughter. Ok?" Dean stood up.

"Ok, just… just calm down." Anna nodded.

"No I'm done waiting for this shit." Dean shook his head, "She's our daughter and we have a god damn right to look after her. Your mom is bullshit." He spat, getting to the end of his tether, "I'm not… I'm not waiting around anymore." He said.

"Dean, just wait a second-" Anna paused, looking over at her phone vibrating on the coffee table, picking it up and staring blankly at it, looking up at Dean.

"What?" Dean said.

"It's… it's my dad." Anna shook her head.