Just to say - this chapter ended up a whole different place from where it started :o)
...
Marissa was driving home from the Martin's house still fuming with anger. Nothing had been decided about what to do about the Inquirer's persecution and there was no clear solution on how to stop it happening again…
Marissa turned into the drive a little more violently than she expected and scrunched to a halt on the gravel. She looked across to Bianca to check she was okay and was surprised to see her girlfriend watching her with a smile on her lips.
"What?" she asked startled out of her anger by Bianca's brilliant smile.
"Tonight." said Bianca, "You were right there with the lawyer speak… slander and defamation…"
"It was libel not slander, slander refers to a spoken statement." corrected Marissa, slow to see Bianca's point.
"And how do you know that?"
"I just do…" said Marissa trailing off as she spoke, suddenly not sure where the thought had come from.
"Does that mean that your memories are coming back?"
Marissa searched inside herself for a moment. It didn't feel like there was a new part to her memory. She wasn't sure how she knew those facts they were just there when she needed them.
"It was just something I knew." said Marissa with an apologetic shrug.
"You had a bit of your old fire back there as well." said Bianca still smiling.
Marissa frowned slightly.
"It's just makes me so mad that they think they can just say those things without repercussions. That these people can take it upon themselves to make our lives a misery and we have no come back! The injustice of it just sticks in my craw."
"That's the fire." said Bianca with a laugh, leaning close for a quick kiss. "And you're right, we need to find a way to stop this. After the trial I think we should risk it and take them to court. If we've got a case?"
"We've got a case; a blind man could see it! But if they release the video?"
Bianca paused in thought.
"I don't know…" she said. "I just want this to stop."
Marissa squeezed her hand.
"We'll find a way." she said giving her girlfriend a sweet grin.
Bianca sighed and nodded, and then looked up towards the house.
"We better get in; we're already late for the kids. Reggie will want to get home and continue their packing."
Marissa kept her grip on her hand and pulled Bianca closer for a warm kiss.
"I love you." she whispered, she hadn't had a chance to say it properly today… and wasn't going to miss a chance.
"I love you too." said Bianca resting her forehead against Marissa's. "But we really need to get in. I want to be there to put Miranda to bed."
Marissa nodded in agreement. Miranda was still having nightmares. Last night she had slept in her own bed for only a few hours before waking with a scream. Marissa had leaped out of bed and quickly shepherded Miranda from her room, along the hall and into Bianca's arms. Miranda sobbed for a few hours until she cried herself to sleep beside her mother, and still she awoke twice more with bad dreams before the night was through. They were going to keep following Dr Stanhope's instructions tonight with Miranda drawing her happy picture and sleeping in her own bed, but both Marissa and Bianca were aware that Miranda would probably be joining them again long before morning.
Marissa had her own worries about AJ tonight as well. He'd been taking the news stories and the pressure of the trial very well; she just wasn't sure how he was going to cope with this fresh accusation.
…
They stepped into the hall to hear the sound of the television coming from the den. Both women shared a grin as the followed the noise, expecting Reggie to be there with the kids playing computer games. Instead they found the unexpected sight of Reggie, AJ and Miranda keenly watching the news channel.
"What's all this?" Bianca asked.
Reggie looked up as the kids leaped off of the couch and threw themselves at their respective mothers.
"You're home," he exclaimed turning the sound down on the television set, "How was your little meeting?
"Not very productive." said Marissa. She pulled AJ into her arms as he hurried to greet her, but her eye was caught by an image of herself in the corner of the TV screen. "What's going on?" she asked referring to the news story.
"You haven't seen?" said Reggie turning the volume back up. "The media has finally seen the light thanks to your enemy!"
The news reader voiceover was now appearing over video footage of a pile of Inquirer Magazines slowly dropping into a trash can before cutting to footage of the airport riot.
"…Questions are already being asked over the morality of news stories when blatant lies are being paraded around as fact. This smear campaign by the Henderson News Corporation against a blameless child has caused a media frenzy. Carol Robinson, the lawyer who first brought this child's case to the media's attention has today expressed her own regrets over the distasteful free-for-all that followed her initial statement…"
The program cut to recording in the news studio of Carol Robinson with her red suit and dark, perfectly coiffured hair.
"I speak for myself and my client when I say that this story should not have been allowed to go this far. What is simply a custody disagreement between two parents should not have been turned into a war of this scale. Our concern is for the child. He is already under so much pressure, torn between two parents, coming to terms with his new 'unconventional' family, acting as witness at his father's upcoming trial. I am worried now that this may be too much for him. I saw him just yesterday and he was already nervous about telling the truth in the courtroom and now this…"
Carol held up a copy of the Inquirer for the camera.
"I don't think the child deserves this kind of unwarranted pressure and I am persuing a case of libel against the Inquirer and it's editor for my client, JR Chandler. He may not have the custody rights he deserves at the moment but that won't stop him looking after the best interests of his son. I am also personally requesting now that AJ not present evidence in court for his father. Because I care about what happens to that little boy and I don't want him to suffer any more on my account."
"You manipulative little… witch!" said Marissa in disgust, editing her language because of the kids still beside her. "She probably directed Henderson to put that story in the paper simply so she could make that statement!"
Marissa could see the lawyer's scheme clearly in her head. First she had tried to use AJ as the wedge between Marissa and JR during the trial. Making the boy act for the defence for the father 'he was being kept from'. Now she realised AJ was going to stand up for his mother, Carol was trying a different tack. She would instead get her and JR's faces smeared across the cover of every paper in the country by acting the good guy and seemingly standing up for AJ's rights! Trying to disguise the fact that she was the one pushing for the news stories all along! It infuriated the hell out of Marissa but a part of her felt that if it meant an end to all this offensive drivel in the Inquirer every day then she'd let them have this victory for now. It wasn't going to magic away the hatred that had been stirred up but it was something.
Marissa saw AJ watching her and her anger had subsided enough for her to give him a happy grin.
"You do know what this means don't you." she asked her son.
AJ shook his head. She bent down to pull him into another hug.
"It means that you did such a good job at telling the truth, that this Carol woman realised you wouldn't be of use to the defence case. So you probably won't be going to trial and you won't have to testify!"
Marissa then looked up at Bianca with a smile of malicious delight,
"And hopefully it will also mean that Mrs Robinson now realises that JR's case is indefensible and she's starting to sweat!"
…
Their room was cold as Bianca snuggled up beside Marissa in bed.
"How was AJ?" Bianca asked trying to find a warm spot against Marissa's side.
"Our little champ was great!" said Marissa and then she gave a snort of laughter. "Although he did ask if he could get a haircut! I'll give Opal a call in the morning and try and arrange something, I could do with a trim myself. How was Miranda?" she added as she curled round to find the most comfortable position in Bianca's arms.
"Well you were her happy thought for today." said Bianca, treating Marissa with a soft kiss in the corner of her lips. "You and your animal pancakes this morning… particularly the two legged dog/horse and the decapitated duck…"
Marissa smiled at the memory.
"Do you think she'll sleep through?" she asked, worry still haunted them both over the child's continued nightmares.
"She seems determined," said Bianca. "She was chanting a whole series of happy thoughts as she closed her eyes, and she's seeing Dr Stanhope tomorrow so finger's crossed that he can make some progress with finding out where these dreams are coming from."
"Do you want me to pick her up after?" Marissa asked, shifting her body again in their shared embrace after Bianca's cold foot brushed against her leg.
"I'll be at the hospital tomorrow anyway for the all clear on my toe so I'll do it… by then I should be back to my good brace and I can bound around a bit more."
Marissa gave her girlfriend a scolding look in the dark.
"Bounding around carefully!" she amended.
"Of course," said Bianca smoothly.
There was a brief moment of silence but sleep wouldn't come, Marissa still felt the tension left by today's events.
As if reading her mind, Marissa felt Bianca's hand in a comforting gesture, reach under her nightshirt and start rubbing her belly.
"Are you still mad about the news story?" Bianca asked quietly.
Marissa couldn't fight the happy sigh that bubbled up from the contact.
"It's the injustice of it all that really hurts. I want to do something to stop her but I don't know what."
"It sounds more and more like the lawyer in you is pushing through." Bianca whispered against her ear.
"Well aren't you mad?" Marissa asked, turning so the she could see Bianca's features in the dark of their room.
"I am… I'm mad about the article, but there are so many things going on right now I think I'm running out of room to worry."
"What do you mean?"
"Well there's the magazine articles and the threat of JR's video hanging over our heads, there is Miranda's nightmares, Reggie moving in on Friday, the Miranda centre fundraiser, my mother's wedding, the second instalment of my mom's life story coming out in cinemas throughout the globe, Thanksgiving and Christmas… and of course the trial… have you given any thought about what will happen if JR isn't prosecuted because if he gets off he is going to make our life hell!"
"That's not going to happen… he's guilty."
Bianca looked sadly at Marissa.
"The guilty don't always pay…" With a sigh Bianca closed her eyes. "I sometimes wish I could just live on an island miles away from any of this drama."
"Hmm." said Marissa, nestling closer, "A tropical island? With sandy beaches, coconuts and grass skirts…"
Bianca laughed at Marissa's wistful tone.
"Well I guess someone has their happy thought for the night."
"Not you?" asked Marissa giving her girlfriend a plaful nudge.
"Well I've never been one for making love on the beach I just imagine sand would get everywhere."
Marissa grinned.
"We could find a rocky outcrop and a beach towel?"
Bianca, more than willing to give into the distraction of Marissa's playful tone gave her girlfriend a smirk.
"Just so I can get the picture right; these coconuts you mentioned are they food or clothing."
With a light laugh Marissa kissed Bianca's cheek and slid her arm around Bianca's waist under her pyjama top, her anger forgotten.
"Food."
Bianca laughed too at Marissa's tickling touch.
"So just grass skirts."
"Mmmhmm." sighed Marissa planting a nibbling kiss on the lobe of Bianca's ear.
"And where are the kids?" asked Bianca, still playing at being a skeptic.
"Oh they have an island of their own with waterslides and a theme park."
"So on our island we just have grass skirts, coconuts and a beach towel, I think I'd rather be with the kids!"
"How about we rescue a four-poster bed from the wreck onto the beach with guaranteed sand free sheets." said Marissa as she trailed more kisses to Bianca's lips. "Which would mean grass skirts were optional as well…"
Bianca pulled away slightly, enjoying the game too much to give into Marissa's moves too quickly.
"So we're now ship wrecked and we don't even get grass skirts?"
"No." said Marissa, shifting herself on top of Bianca and finally capturing her lips with a hungry kiss. "It's just you and me."
"But what would we do all day?" Bianca asked innocently, although her eyes were shining with anticipation.
Marissa's eyes flickered down Bianca's body.
"Why don't I show you?"
…