Rules Of War

Early January 2012.

"They're back!" Zachary exclaimed, running to the door as Madison, Toby, and Joe walked in with Jess and Nathan.

Ignoring the homecoming commotion between the four adults and three children, Joe went to his room to be alone. Nothing could really make him happy these days, but being able to climb into his own bed in a house that wasn't packed with relatives came pretty close.

"Did you have a nice Christmas?" Nicole asked as she picked up Madison.

The child nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm gonna go unpack," Nathan said plainly.

"What's with him?" Nicole whispered when Nathan was out of earshot.

Of course, Jess couldn't answer that question with the children right there. "Zachary, why don't you show Madison and Toby what you got for Christmas.

Antonio and Nicole went out to help Jess get the packages out of the car.

"So," Nicole repeated, "What's got into Nathan?"

"Toby told him…And he believed him. He's been depressed ever since."

"Oh. Well, at least he's not pretending anymore."

"At least."

xxxxx

Nicole waited until everything settled down before she told Jess about Colin.

"Just tell me." Jess was worried. She knew Nicole could have no good reason for asking her to sit down and then taking so long to say why.

"Colin knows about Joe."

"…What?"

Nicole told her how he had found out.

"He got a transfer. He's working at the D.O.J. in Sacramento now…He wants joint custody, Jess. I talked to several lawyers that specialize in this. I left their numbers by the phone. I think Bruce Spencer is the best. He's got a great reputation. I met with him and really seemed to appreciate the situation."

"I can't believe this…I gotta talk to Colin."

"And say what? Colin moved across the country for Joe. He's not going to change his mind."

xxxxx

Colin opened the door of his condo when he heard the banging. He knew who it was.

Jess barged in.

"How did you get access to my medical records?"

"I didn't. I was able to legally gain access to Joseph's because he is my son. I broke no laws."

"Too bad ethics aren't a law."

"Are you seriously going to lecture me on ethics? The woman who kept my son from me."

"Joe is not yours. He's Nathan's."

"Don't bother lying to me. I saw the birth certificate. I did the math. But hey, we'll get a D.N.A. test done and then we'll know for sure."

"That's not what I meant. I know you know biologically Joe is your son. But as far as he and Nathan and I are concerned, Joe belongs to Nathan and me."

"Yeah, well, that's not how I feel. And the law is on my side. I thought we'd be able to do this without the courts, but I guess I was wrong."

"Do you even know what you're doing? I know Nicole told you what happened to Joe. He is in hell right now. Do you really want to put him through a custody battle? Do you really want to pull the rug out from under him and tell him his dad isn't really his dad?"

"You started this, Jess. Not me."

"So this is about revenge?"

"This is about my right to know my kid, and his right to know me."

"Rights. And the hell with that kid's feelings, right?"

Colin reached for the door knob and opened the door. "We're done here. You'll be hearing from my lawyer."

"You'll be hearing from mine first."

xxxxx

Nathan came into the office of Bruce Spencer a few moments before their appointment. The two men shook hands.

"Thank you for taking me and my wife on as clients. We know you're loaded as it is."

"Not a problem, Mr. Massey."

"Call me Nathan."

"And you can call me Bruce."

The two of them sat, Bruce behind his desk and Nathan across from it. "My wife wanted to be here, but she got stuck in Portland on business."

"That's okay. I'll just be going over the plan with you. It won't be anything you can't tell her later."

"So what's the plan? How do we keep this bastard from getting my boy?"

"Look, Nathan, I'm going to be straight with you. Unless this guy is a grossly unfit father, no judge in the world will refuse him contact with his son. The best we can do is win sole physical and legal custody and make the visitations as infrequently as possible."

Nathan didn't argue. He'd already consulted a multitude of other custody lawyers. They had all said the same thing.

"Explain everything to me. Tell me what happens now."

"We will schedule the hearing. In the mean time, I will be gathering as much information as possible about this…" he looked down at his notes, "Colin McNeil. " He gave Nathan a list. "You can show this to your wife. Those are all the different types of custody—sole legal custody, sole physical custody, and joint custody."

"That is the one Colin wants, right? Joint custody?"

"Yeah. That means that he and your wife will equally share physical and legal custody. What I will be doing is trying to get your wife sole physical custody, meaning the child lives with her, and sole legal custody, meaning she has the say over all medical, educational, and welfare aspects involving the child."

"I always thought custody was custody. When you said legal and physical, I thought they were one and the same."

"No, they're two very different concepts. One is solely about legal issues and over all welfare and the other is simply where the child lives."

"So if Jess gets physical and legal custody of Joe, things will basically stay the same."

"Basically, except Mr. McNeil will have visitation with your son. But even during times of visitation, nothing changes as far as the legal decisions. That will always be your wife's alone."

"Okay, that's what we want. How do we get it?"

"If he or she hasn't already, Mr. McNeil's lawyer will be digging up as much against the two of you as possible, so what you need to do right now is be one hundred percent straight with me. I need to know about anything and everything they might try to use against your wife and you. I need to know every skeleton in your closet."

xxxxx

Colin knew he was in for a battle. He was now on the warpath. As it turned out, getting the goods against his opponents was not even remotely difficult.

The child's mother had a near psychotic break down in 2003

Suspected organized crime family

The hiring of a nanny, who was a scam artist, and was murdered in the same home his son was in

The child's mother works long days and most weekends

The child's mother and stepfather show poor judgment in choosing caretakers for the child

The child's stepfather had been accused of smothering him when he was seven months old. The case was closed as inconclusive

Colin continued to read a litany of things he and his lawyer had put together. Learning about what an "unfit" mother Jess was changed things for him. At first he had wanted only to share custody of Joe. He wanted a chance to be his father. But now Colin was truly horrified and worried about the safety of his son.

"I can't believe this," Colin said to his lawyer. "I had no idea she was this messed up."

"What do you want to do?" The lawyer asked, knowing the answer, and ready to give a suggestion if Colin didn't already know what to do.

"I want full custody."

"We can file for temporary custody pending a hearing. That would allow your son to live with you until a ruling in the custody battle has been made."

"Yes. Do that."

xxxxx

That evening the Massey/Cortez house was chaos as usual. Jess was loading the dishwasher. Nicole was wrestling Toby and Zachary into the tub. Madison was tearing around yelling. Antonio was the only one in reprieve—he was at the hospital visiting Faith.

The door bell rang. Jess opened it.

"Hello, Mrs. Massey?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Hilary Stuart, from the court."

"The court?"

"Family court. I'm here for the evaluation."

Jess opened the door wider and let her in. "I don't understand."

"You're in a custody battle, right?"

"Right."

"It's my job to observe the family system in the home of each parent."

"Okay? Come in."

When Jess slipped into the bedroom to call Bruce, he said he had never seen an evaluation done so early in a custody battle. Bruce said it meant that the courts had already decided they wanted Joe to spend at least some time with Colin, the evaluator has to see the child in both homes.

"I don't know why they're doing this so early. But they will probably want to evaluate Joe with Mr. McNeil in the very near future."

"I don't want to tell Joe that Colin is his father now. You must be able to do something."

"First let me find out why they sent the evaluator so early. I'll call you back."

xxxxx

Colin sat in Darren Clark's office that evening. The day before they would go to court and Mr. Clark would try to convince a judge that Joe should be taken away from his home and live with his biological father for several weeks—the time it would take to schedule the official custody hearing.

"The evaluation is happening right about now," Clark told Colin. "My assistant is waiting outside the home. As soon as he sees the evaluator leave, he will serve Mrs. Massey with the emergency temporary custody order. Then tomorrow, hopefully, you'll be able to take your son home."

"What are the chances the judge will rule in our favor? I mean, I'm sure Jess will have a bunch of character witnesses."

"No. This isn't the official hearing. This is a fifteen minute presentation of the facts."

"Fifteen minutes?"

"The family court system is packed. The dockets are beyond full. The only reason I was able to schedule this appointment is because we have legitimate evidence that your son may be in danger. And so the court will squeeze us in for fifteen minutes or less, so a judge can decide whether the child is really in danger."

"So that's it? I won't have time to testify, to prove I can take good care of Joseph?"

"I wouldn't worry, Colin. The judge will likely air on the side of caution and give Joseph to you."

xxxxx

As Jess showed the evaluator out, a man walked up to the door. "Jess Massey?"

"Yes?"

He handed her an envelope. "You've been served."

xxxxx

"I don't know, Mrs. Massey," Bruce was thoroughly confounded. Emergency custody? "Clark must have found something that made a judge worry about your son's welfare in your care."

It dawned on her, and Jess knew what Colin had found. "My husband was accused of being involved in organized crime several years ago. But his record is clean. They were just accusations." As she lied for Nathan, she was furious with him.

"Accusations from several years ago? I don't think any judge would call an emergency hearing for that. Has Nathan ever been abusive to any of your children?"

It's amazing how time can erase bad memories. Jess had long forgotten about Joe's accidental injuries when he was seven months old that caused Child Welfare to accuse Nathan of abuse.

"That must be it. Clark convinced a judge that your husband is a danger to Joseph. Listen, Clark is faxing me the allegations that he is going to make in court tomorrow. Let's meet at the courthouse about a half an hour before the appointment. We can go over it then."

xxxxx

Jess had that whole night to think about what Colin's lawyer might say about her and Nathan. There was a lot he could say against them. Jess knew she and Nathan wouldn't have a chance to testify. It was going to be Colin's lawyer telling the judge why his client should have Joe and then Bruce trying to refute all the claims, and the judge would decide where Joe would live until the decision in the overall battle had been made.

Jess didn't have much faith that she would win, so she spent the night packing a couple of suitcases with Joe's clothes and favorite toys. She hid the luggage in her closet, hoping that tomorrow she would be able to unpack them and put his things where they belonged—in his room.

After putting the suitcases away, Jess laid back in bed.

"Are you asleep?" she whispered to Nathan.

"How could I be? What were you just doing?"

"Getting some of Joe's things together in case…" She couldn't even finish the thought.

"You shoulda let me fudge those D.N.A. results. I coulda easily made it look like Joe was my biological son."

"You would have gotten caught, sent to prison, lost your medical license, and I would have lost any chance of getting custody of Joe. What you should have done is been honest with Bruce when he asked you what they could use against us."

"I didn't think they would get far with allegations from five years ago. Anyway, it wouldn't have mattered."

"Bruce could've warned us that the evaluator would be sent. We could have been prepared. This place was a madhouse while she was here."

"In a few weeks, we will have our day in court. We will have a chance to set the record straight and we will get total custody of him. Bruce said he might be able to get Colin's visitation as little as one day visit every other month. Even if we lose tomorrow. It'll only be for a while."

"Maybe to us, but four to seven weeks is a very long time to a five-year-old. Since Joe can't ask any questions, he won't know what's going on…What are we going to tell him?"

"We'll tell him that we're all working and that Colin is going to take care of him for a while."

"He'll wonder why his brother and sister and Zachary aren't with him."

"Maybe it's good he's not talking. He can't ask questions that we won't be able to answer anyway. It would be better if he just thinks Colin is a babysitter. Let him decide by himself why his brother and sister aren't there too…Then, after he gets adjusted, we can tell him that he has two daddies."

Jess sighed. "He can't take this now, Nathan. Colin lives an hour away. Joe will have to get used to a new counselor, a new home. Colin will probably put him back in school, a new school. And Joe won't be able to say anything about it."

"We'll get him back."

Nathan knew those words were in no way an answer to all the problems Jess had stated, but it was all he could say. She was right. A custody transfer would be adding more fuel to the already out of control fire that was Joe's mind.