"Ok Mr. Harper, please be seated." The judge said.

Austin sat and adjusted himself so he'd be more comfy.

Our lawyer leaned over to me and said "This is the last part, their cross examination. Then we'll be done for two weeks."

Yay.

I smile and nod, then sip my water as he straightened up and his father's lawyer began to speak.

"So Austin…baseball…school…girlfriend…the ongoing mess in regards to the MLB draft…would you mind elaborating on that last part for the court please?"

"The draft stuff?"

The lawyer nodded.

"Sure…uhm, they drafted me number one overall, even though in every meeting I told them I would not be signing under any circumstances. And there's been a lot of public lobbying ever since." Austin said.

"Let's start small, why do you not want to sign with them Austin?"

"Well, I'm 15 for starters, and just finished my freshman year of high school. I'm having a lot of fun at school and just being normal, not to mention the fact that I have a girlfriend now."

"Please rank the importance of those things please." The lawyer requested.

"Oh, Sydney, then everything else. Normal, school, 15."

"So, in that order, you're passing up $10 million guaranteed."

Austin opened his mouth, but his mom suddenly spoke up.

"You know we need that money too! You loved the idea of going pro!"

"No Mom, I didn't. I told you multiple times I didn't want to go. And that was before Sydney. Plus the fact that it's obvious you just want that money so you never have to work again. I'll never see that again. So I'm going to at least wait until I'm 18, am a legal adult, so that neither you or dad get a dime I don't want you to have."

His mom let out a maniacal scream, causing her lawyer to jump in fright.

Austin smirked and said "Sorry, I know you want it, but even if you and Dad sign my contract, it won't mean a thing because I'm not signing. Period, end of discussion."

"Please sit down Mrs. Harper." The judge asked.

His mom sat down violently, very red in the face.

The judge gestured that the lawyer can continue, and he started again.

"How do you feel about the ongoing contract negotiations in the media?"

"I think it's stupid. Honestly sir, I don't have an agent, I don't have a lawyer on the case, I don't have anything. It's just me, which is fine because I'm not going. I have too much keeping me here, I'm too young, and they really are making me angry with every jab they send at me thru the media."

"How would you describe your relationship between their front office and you?"

"About as friendly as Israel and the Middle East sir."

Our lawyer looked taken aback.

"That bad?"

"Yes sir." Austin said.

"Okay then, that explains that loose end…now I've noticed something here in these proceedings Austin. And it's about your friends."

Huh?

The lawyer continued. "You haven't mentioned them, ever. Not one time in this court have you referenced any friends. Why is that?"

"I…uhm…"

Austin went red then sipped his cup of water.

"Well sir, I…really don't have many friends that I hang out with much."

The entire room went silent for a second.

"Okay…why is that?"

"Well, I just transferred to a new school last year, and most of my friends from their have new people to hang out with."

"So they aren't your friends?"

"No, they are…I think. I'm pretty sure, I assume so. But we don't really hang out much."

"What about your new school…Hollywood Arts?" the lawyer flipped thru a few pages to find the name of our school, then looked up.

"It's nice, I like it sir, but they're there for the performing arts part. Most everybody there is all in on that stuff, while I do baseball and stuff. So yeah, I have friends, but we don't have much in common."

Oh.

That sounds sad when he puts it that way.

I've never even thought about it that way.

Now I feel bad.

"Then why go there?" The lawyer pushed.

"I love performing. I love being around talented people. Plus my girlfriend goes there. So…why not?"

I smile happily.

"Ok Mr. Harper, you can step off the stand."

Austin immediately popped up and walked back to our table.

I lace our hands together once he sits down.

"Alright…so as we all know, Austin Harper is going away for the next 2 weeks for a baseball tournament and to pick up the other child in this case, Samantha Harper and we can get her testimony." The judge said to the court.

"Also, Ms. Valentine, your parents will need to come in that Monday to confirm Austin, whereabouts, the crash, his parents behavior after the crash and how they feel about having him at your home. We all will need to be back here that Monday, 10 AM sharp. Does anyone have any questions?"

…

"Ok. This court is done hearing arguments for the day." The judge banged on his gavel, and everybody got to his feet.

Our lawyer shook Austin's hand, waved to me then started away.

Austin and I start towards the car.

Today is our meeting with Jordan.

"Austin?" I ask, as we slip into the garage area.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I…I'm not holding you back from seeing your friends am I? I didn't know…about you not having many." I say quietly.

"Oh. Well don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Why shouldn't I worry about it?" I snap at him.

"I'm fine. I just said that. You ok?" He smiled as I hop into the driver's seat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But it sounded like you were kind of lonely and didn't have friends back there during the interrogation."

"It was a cross examination, not an interrogation babe." Austin said softly.

"Whatever. But you really don't have all that many friends?" I ask.

"I have friends, but not many I hang out with though. But that's fine with me because I can be with you more."

I can see his smile even though I'm winding my way thru the parking garage.

"You don't have to do that you know. Ellie and I can hang out or something if you want some guy time."

"I don't need guy time."

"What?" I say. "I needed girl time with Ellie, why makes you so special that you don't need guy time?"

Austin laughed and kept quiet as I paid the parking bill, then got onto the streets.

"Ok. I get my guy time with baseball. And I'm about to get 2 weeks of it on the East Coast, with brief intermissions of my sister."

"And your aunt, uncle and 2 nieces and nephew." I say.

"Yeah, but that's a family atmosphere, and that's something that's normal."

I smile to myself.

I know what's coming.

He loves how much mom and dad have pulled him into the fold.

It's weird to not have him there whenever we have Olivia over. Or anybody for that matter.

Click click.

Click click.

Click click.

We drive in silence for a minute or two as we scan for the correct address.

"There it is." I say, as Austin pointed to a white house on the right.

"Big place. Hmm."

"Mom and Dad must be making him a lot of money." I say.

I come to a stop on the curb and kill the ignition.

We both pile out and he grabs my hand as we walk to the door.

Breathe.

It's going to be fine.

It's going to go great.

Austin kissed my hair and whispered "It's going to be fine."

I swallow nervously, then hit the doorbell.

Ding dong.

…

…

…

Slam!

Slam!

Austin jokingly waves me back up towards the front door.

I smile, lock my door then walk thru the open front door.

"Hey! You're home!" Kevin said, leaning over the banister.

"Did you guys have a nice dinner?" Corey smiled at us, holding a cup of something at the foot of the stairs.

"Alooooone?" Matt smiled deviously.

"Yeah, it was good." Austin said, as I'm already going towards the back door.

I vaguely hear Austin bid them farewell and start to follow me before I open the door, to the cheers of everybody outside.

"Hi!" Mom jumped up and hugged me.

Everybody else started maneuvering themselves so that we could come sit down.

"How'd it go?" Dad asked.

Oh wait.

Mom hates talking about Jordan.

She hates thinking about it.

I've never even heard her say his name.

Like…ever.

"Sydney…you did go to dinner right?" Aunt Jade asked.

…

"Yeah, we did." Austin jolted me out of my stupor.

"Well what happened? Any highlights?"

"Uhm…no. Not really." I instinctively say.

Dad turned to Austin and handed him a drink, then gave me one too.

"How about you? You going to talk?" Dad asked kindly.

"Uhm…yeah. I would, but I've gotten the impression that Sydney's mom really doesn't like the topic, so I was just going to move on from it." Austin said.

"It's ok. I won't fall apart listening to what happened." Mom said, then smiled at me.

"So?" Aunt Tori turned to me, just as the back door opened.

I turn and see Ellie with Olivia.

Austin however, didn't turn around and Ellie just lowered her in front of his face.

"AGA!"

"Hey!" Austin put his drink down, then took her.

"She's all changed, so she should be good."

"Great." Austin smiled at her, as she beamed.

I turn away and see that everybody else is looking at me.

"What?" I say.

"You were about to say something." Uncle Beck said.

"Oh. Uhm…well it was nice. Had Italian food. Toured their house. Talked a bit. Came home. That was really it."

"What'd you talk about?" dad asked.

"School. Explained a lot of stuff. They both explained how they got together, and how Syd tied into it, and how she's still a part of their lives, even though it's separate." Austin jumped in.

"Huh?" Andre said.

"Keep going."

"Well…ok. On their own, they set up this… fund type thing for her. $40 grand, she can use $10k per year. They've set it up for college so that if she wanted to do that, she could." Austin said.

…

Everybody has a blank look.

"And they didn't clear it with you guys?" Jade asked Mom and dad.

"They might have tried, I don't know. Jordan emails once a year, and she always deletes it on sight."

"Once a year? Like every year on the same day?" Uncle Beck asked.

Mom nodded. "December 27th. Every year."

"I guess we'll need to have a word with them about that. Are you thinking about college?" Dad asked me.

"I…uhh..no, not really. I mean, this music stuff would kind of make me too famous to go to college hopefully right." I say.

"Right." Mom jumped in.

"But you still need those grades up." Dad said.

"I know." I smile.

"So when does this trial end? It's been going on for 3 weeks now. And you're leaving." Aunt Jade said.

"In a week and a half I think." Austin said.

Ooh, that reminds me.

"Oh yeah. Mom, dad? They want you to come in and testify about my accident and verify that Austin's been here a lot."

"Ok." Dad said simply.

"What else could they possibly want to cover?" Aunt Tori said.

"Sydney's parents testimony, my sister's side of things, and still have enough time to decide the case I thi—"

"Sister?" Mom blurted out.

Austin tensed up briefly, then said "Yeah."

"When'd you get a sister?" Aunt Tori asked.

"I…she's 6. I thought I told you this." He said.

"No. Where is she?" Dad asked.

"Is she ok?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Uncle Beck asked.

Austin handed me Olivia, who lit up then laid her head onto my shoulder.

"Sorry, I swear I explained this to you guys." Austin said, then sipped his lemonade.

"It's fine. Go on."

"Ok…Well, she's 6, her name is Samantha, and she's been in Washington D.C the last 5 months."

Mom quickly did the math in her head. "That'd be right around Sydney's birthday.

"Yeah." I speak up. "He mentioned her then to me too, but hadn't said anything else until about a week ago when I asked. He thought he explained it to me too."

Mom nodded, and Aunt Jade spoke up.

"Why D.C? Your uncle?" She asked.

"Nobody was confident that my grandma could handle both my sister and I after only taking care of herself for 18 years. So they decided to stagger it. I stayed here as the test case, and Sam went to D.C."

"Wait…you're staying here right?" Aunt Tori asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm here. She's just moving down here."

"Isn't that baseball tournament you're going to, isn't it based off the East Coast?" Uncle Beck asked.

Austin nodded.

"Is she going to come to any of them?" Aunt Tori asked.

"Yup. The plan right now is 3 of them, and the first time I'll see her is at the first one."

Mom, Jade and Tori all smiled.

"So forgive me for being dumb, but other than seeing your sister, why go so far away just for a baseball tournament?" Uncle Andre asked.

"It's the tournament to determine who is the best 15/16 year old team in the nation." Austin explained.

"Oh." Beck joked.

"That makes sense then.." Uncle Andre says.

"So if you win, you get bragging rights?" Mom asked.

"Along with a gigantic trophy and another thing for websites to talk about." Austin smiled.

"And if you lose?" Aunt Tori asked.

Austin suddenly shot forward and rapped his knuckles on the wooden table leg.

"I get a nice trip to D.C and to see my sister…what?"

"Why'd you jump forward like that?" Dad laughed.

"I'm superstitious." Austin said.

Everyone laughed, and then Olivia suddenly said "Aga! Fafa!"

"I can't. I have to go finish packing." Austin frowned sadly.

Aww.

She made a high pitched sound, then grabbed and kicked for him.

I handed her to him, and he smiled.

"Please don't destroy the house or anything while I'm gone ok?" He asked.

Olivia lit up and banged her hand on his shoulder, causing all the adults to laugh.

"No, I said for you not to destroy anything. Please?"

Olivia just giggled. Austin shook his head, then hugged her and handed her to me.

"I better get going. I still have a suitcase to pack and a ton of smaller ends to tie up." Austin suddenly got up.

Mom popped to her feet and hugged him. "Ok. Be safe."

"And come back with a trophy!" Aunt Jade said.

"I will. I owe her one." Austin pointed to Olivia, who giggled.

Everyone laughed.

"Hey Sydney, you can take her with you guys, you still have a car seat right?" Aunt Tori asked.

"Yeah. I got it." I say.

"Okay then." Andre said.

"See you Austin!"

"Bye, see you all later." He smiled, then let Olivia and I slip by and shut the door behind us.

The drive to his grandma's house was easy, and filled with Olivia giggling along to a DVD Austin put onto the entertainment system.

…

I put the SUV into park and turn to him.

"So…2 whole weeks huh?" I say quietly.

I didn't want this part of having a boyfriend.

The missing him part.

"yeah. But I'll be back before you know it."

"I'm gonna miss you. A lot." I say, then hugging him over the dash.

"I'll miss you too. But you have an out." He said.

"Huh?"

"Your music. You can focus in on that, and I'll be back to annoy you before you know it." He grinned goofily.

"You don't annoy me…but that's a good idea."

"Thank you. My only request is that I get to hear the rough cut of you and your mom's song when I get back."

Hey!

I smile.

"That can happen."

"Good."

He quickly grabbed me and kissed me lightly.

It was over too quickly.

"Love you."

"Love you too." I say.

Austin turned to the back seat and said "And I'm going to miss you too Olivia!"

She giggled and kicked her feet.

I shake my head and Austin smiled.

"I better get going."

"You can text me while packing right?" I ask.

"Of course. I'll probably be up all night, so feel free to cut it off whenever." He said.

"You know I'm no good at that.

And that's why we're always sleepy after texting until 4 in the morning.

He shook his head. "I gotta go."

"Bye." I say, then smiling.

He smiled back.

"Later Sydney."