"I swear that if you ever force me into a dress again I am going to shred it through a lawn mower and then splatter paint it before I wear it." Taylor said to Mariana as her sister zipped up the dress. "Hey! I didn't make you do it! Besides moms are the ones who said you should look nice for whatever is going on." Taylor winced at the fact that the twins, Brandon, Callie and Jude still didn't know what was happening today. "Yeah, but you're the one who had dresses for your quince and then you mentioned dresses for the wedding and your the one here now. So I blame you." Mariana laughed at Taylor, "Only in your logic Tay."
"Should we tell them Stef?" Lena whispered even though the bedroom door had been closed. Stef thought for a moment, "Why shouldn't we? Taylor asked to last night and within hours we will hopefully know the verdict." Lena shrugged, "What about Callie and Jude? Won't it hurt them." Stef shook her head, "Those two have been through so much, I'm sure they would understand. Besides we can't keep it a secret forever." Lena nodded, "Kids!" She called out through her bedroom door hoping they would all go downstairs and Stef and Lena could tell them about Taylor's trial. "Lena. Are we ready for this? We're gonna hear more about Taylor's past more now than ever." Lena sighed and nodded. Stef smiled pulling Lena into a kiss, "I love you. We'll get through this." Stef whispered.
All the children had heard Lena call for them and they went downstairs. It was strange to see their moms dressed up but the larger reaction from the household was when Taylor looked several years older and very professional. Taylor gave Jesus and Jude a look when they both started laughing, "I can still kick both of your butts so don't even try." Callie smirked at this and Mariana pointed at the two, "Mhhmm." Brandon laughed at his younger siblings. "Okay. We have something we want to tell you all." Lena started. "Really!" Taylor's voice squeaked partially out of fear partially out of excitement. "Okay, so guys today we're going to the courthouse." Stef explained, immediately all eyes fell on Taylor. "This should be the last day of the trail and then Taylor should be taken out of that household." Stef explained. Taylor smiled and nodded watching all of the kids faces light up for her. It was Lena's turn to finish, "And then after a few signatures, Taylor will be ours, even legally." Mariana squealed and hugged Taylor so tight it caused Taylor to cough Jesus and Brandon both gave her a quick hug. Jude said he was happy for her and looked like he meant it. Callie gave Taylor a half hearted hug and Taylor whispered, "Don't hate me yet, a month tops and it'll be your announcement." Callie laughed, "I don't hate you." Lena broke the embraces by reminding Taylor that they had to go.
"Ms. Adams can explain what happened the night that you welcomed Taylor B. Maclay into your home?" The attorney asked. Lena nodded, "There was a large thunderstorm in the area, it had already knocked out most of the power in the neighborhood. My family and I were in the kitchen about to have dinner when Stef, had called out for me to come to the front door after hearing a cry from outside our front door. I then saw Taylor, curled up in a ball soaked, frozen and crying. My immediate thought was to get the girl inside and try to warm her up. At that point she began to try and stay away from my grip and began to scream begging us not to hit her." Lena was asked a few more assorted questions and was allowed to step down. Lena had stayed composed the whole time even as she watched Taylor nervously look to her biological parents and try to press even closer to Stef.
Taylor's biological mother, Carol, was called up to the stand next. "Mrs. Maclay, when did you realize that your daughter Taylor had gone missing?" The lawyer asked. Carol sighed and brought forth the tears, it was the day before the storm, she had run out after a fight with me and her father, when she didn't return home I knew she was gone." The lawyer nodded sympathetically, "Of course and what was this fight between Mr. Maclay, Taylor and yourself about?" Carol started to cry, "We told her she couldn't date some girl. We felt that it didn't reflect our values and we needed time to adjust before we allowed her to date." The lawyer nodded, "Was this fight purely verbal?" He asked raising his eyebrows. Carol cried out at this point, "Of course! We never laid a hand on our daughter how horrible that is!" Taylor tensed up and pushed her face into Lena's shoulder, "There lying." She whispered. "So you never physically abused your daughter?" The lawyer pressed further. "Objection!" The Maclay's lawyer yelled. The Foster's lawyer faced the judge, "Your honor I would like to remind the witness that she is under oath, we have evidence that proves against her statement." The judge nodded, "Overruled." Taylor looked to Lena, "What evidence?" She whispered. Lena just held the girl's hand and continued to watch. "Mrs. Maclay, we have Taylor's medical records here suggestion that there was physical abuse, Taylor was thirteen when she entered the emergency room having an major asthmatic attack, it was said that she had been kicked and then that her air supply was cut off. It was blamed on an accident? When Taylor had been able to breath again she told the doctors someone kicked her in the chest and then gripped around her throat trying to block the airflow. There are also reports of her falling down the stairs twice and getting two mild concussions." The lawyer explained handing the judge the file. Carol Maclay just sat there frozen, "Those were accidents." The lawyer dismissed the comment and continued on, "A school official reported speaking with Taylor after entering the school with brusies across her face and having Taylor reply with and I quote, "I caused it myself and have now been scared into a hiding secrecy." Stef kept her eyes locked on Taylor, she hadn't expected that much of Taylor's past to be revealed today. "I have no further questions." The Foster's lawyer sat down and whispered something to Stef. The Maclay's lawyer had no further questions and called Taylor's father to the stand, Joseph Maclay.
"Mr. Maclay how would you describe your relationship with your daughter?" Joe looked at Taylor and wouldn't take his gaze away. "Taylor use to be my little girl, she would sit and talk with me for hours, she would laugh and play. She use to love me. Then she stopped but I never did I still love her." Taylor buried her face into Lena's shoulder again not being able to hold her father's gaze. "And did you ever harm your daughter physically?" Joe sat there for moment and then nodded, "There was once when she was fourteen when I lost my temper but only for a moment, it never happened before that or after that." The lawyer was stunned, "No further questions." He mumbled. The Foster's lawyer stood, "You have physically abused your daughter before? And you are positive you only hit her once?" Joe nodded, "Yes. I immediately went and confessed my sins, I could only make it up to god by being a good father again so that it what I did." The lawyer nodded, "Now was this one of the document times? Or did this go unrecorded?" Joe sighed, "Taylor didn't need medical help so it was never reported." The lawyer began to see his opening, "If this case went undocumented how do you expect the court to believe that there were no other cases when the medical records point to that possibility?" "Objection!" The Maclay's lawyer yelled. The fosters lawyer stepped back, "No further questions your honor." The honor dismissed for a ten minute recess noticing how distraught the young girl sitting in the courtroom was.
"Stef, I don't want this. I don't want them digging up my past." Taylor cried. Stef rubbed her back as Lena went to get the teen something to drink. "We're almost done alright honey? Just you speak and then we're done and you're never going to have to deal with this again okay?" Taylor nodded and put her head down in Stef's lap. Lena returned and sat next to the girl handing her a glass of water. "You dykes! Get away from my daughter! You homo's are the reason she thinks this is alright!" Joe Maclay went flying towards the three sitting on the bench. Taylor instinctively jumped in front of her moms and took a small smack to the face before the Maclay lawer dragged Joe back into the courtroom. "Taylor! Why did you do that?" Lena gasped. Taylor sighed, "He wasn't going to hurt my family before he got through me." Both Stef and Lena shook their heads and wrapped their arms around the teen before walking back into the courtroom.
"Your honor I would like to call Taylor Maclay up to the stand." The Maclay's lawyer stated. Taylor rose and slowly walked over to her seat. "Please state your full name for the record." She was asked. Taylor took a small breath before answering, "Taylor Belle Maclay." "Thank you." The lawyer smiled, "May I call you Taylor?" Taylor bite her lip but replied, "No. And I'd prefer if you didn't call me Ms. Maclay either." Taylor looked up to Stef who smiled slightly and nodded to continue. "Alright. Why did you show up at the Foster household on May 23rd of last year?' Taylor began, "I was being abused because I was... sorry I am gay. Mr. and Mrs. Maclay felt that it wasn't right of me to say such a thing and had tried to beat it out of me. As of that night I refused to cower and ran away from home. I happened to land on the Foster's doorstep to try and stay dry during a storm." Taylor's voice hadn't flattered even a bit. The lawyer nodded and continued, "Did you think that your parents would be looking for you?" Taylor shook her head no, "They would have had to admit what they did to me before they could explain why I went missing therefore I was sure I would be safe and hidden." The lawyer continued, "And did you happen to think about the emotional distress you would have put on your two parents but just leaving for almost a year? Did you think about how this would impact the people who love you more than anyone else in this world?" The Foster's lawyer jumped up, "Objection your honor!" Taylor turned to look at the judge, "Your honor I would like to answer the question." The judge nodded and told her to continue. Taylor took a small breath, "It is true that my parents are sitting in this courtroom but it is not true that I caused emotional distress on them. Those two people aren't my parents, Stef Foster and Lena Adams are, they are the ones who have cared and loved me from the moment I fell into their arms. They have supported me with all their love. They have given me everything I have ever needed and I love them more than this world itself because they are my parents." Taylor took a moment and pointed to the Maclay's, "They are not my parents, they didn't feel like I fit in their box of life and began to hit me. Never once did I feel love and support in that house. So no sir, I'm not sorry to tell you I wasn't worried about how they would feel if I left to make sure that all I had was a bruise that night and not a coffin. If they had cared about me then it may have left emotional issues for them but the way they hit me without blinking proved enough to me that there were no emotions between the two of us. So please do not get my parents confused with the Maclays sir." Taylor was fighting back tears now as were the two women sitting behind their lawyer. "If they were supposed to love me more than anything in the world they failed and two other amazing people took the places they could never fill." At this point Taylor didn't care that she was crying, "So if your question about that night was if I was being selfish then yes I was and there isn't a second I wish I hadn't been selfish that night." The lawyer simply nodded and stepped down. Taylor's own lawyer stepped up to question her, "That was quite a speech would you like a minute?" He asked Taylor. "No thank you. I would rather continue sir if that was alright." The lawyer nodded, "How would you describe your time at the Foster household?" Taylor smiled, "Well like I just said, I love them and I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything else. I may not have had a mother and father tht have the same blood and looks as me but I gained to mothers who love me, five crazy but loving siblings and the closest thing to a father I will ever get." The lawyer nodded, "Would you say you have support throughout this family?" Taylor nodded, "It's the most amazing support system any child could ask for, I have my moms who help me with everything, I have Brandon, my older brother who always has my back, my sister Mariana the one who gives me crazy makeovers and makes me laugh even when I want to cry, my brother Jesus who teaches me everything I need to know about video games, skateboarding and just enjoying life, I have Callie who is the older sister I need when I do cry to someone of course I have my baby brother Jude, the one who many days gives me a purpose to keep dealing with bullies and I also have Mike Foster, he may not be my parent like Stef and Lena are but he loves all of us kids and would help us if we ever needed it." Taylors comments left Stef and Lena surprised but nothing more than the last one. Taylor looked up from the ground and noticed how everyone she had just mention had slipped in and sat in the backrow of the room. The lawyer smiled at Taylor, "I have no further questions. You are dismissed." Taylor got up slowly and then ran over to Stef and Lena as the judge left to make his decision on the case. "Do you still love me? Remember no matter what I said you would still love me?" Taylor laughed through her tears as did Stef and Lena. "Nah. We just thought it was a really lame speech." Taylor heard Jesus' voice behind him and tackled him into a hug.
The judge came in two minutes later, Taylor whisper to Lena "Is it good that he came in so quickly?" Lena didn't reply but squeezed Taylor's hand and then Stef's. The judge rose to read the verdict, "In the case of custody of Taylor Belle Maclay this court finds that Taylor should..."
Authors note:
Ha! I left you with a cliffhanger! I was crying while writing some of this chapter so I hope I get a similar reaction from some of you! What do you guys think the verdict will be? Will something finally workout for this family? Reviews please. Should try and get another chapter up tonight but no promises.