Cal and Ethan parked in front of the courthouse. Cal turned off the engine, shut his eyes and took a deep breath, Ethan looked at him.
"It will be okay, Cal. I'll be here." Ethan comforted his shaking brother. Cal looked at Ethan smiled. He grabbed Ethan's shoulder comfortingly.
"Thank you." Cal whispered.
"Let's get this show on the road." Ethan smiled.
Cal smiled too and got out of the car. Ethan went to do the same but a sharp pain stabbed him in his ribs. He let out a gasp but put on a smile when Cal came round to his side of the car and opened his door.
"Come on Nibbles." Cal jokingly hurried him.
Ethan got out slowly, hoping the sharp pain will go, which it does eventually. The two brothers walked over to Carol.
"Dr Knight, Dr Ethan. You're early. That's a good sign." Beamed Carol. Cal chuckled nervously. Carol looked at Ethan's cut, paled face. "You okay Ethan?"
"Yes I'm fine thank you, so when do we start?" Ethan quickly changed the subject.
"Ah, follow me." Carol gestured with her hand then heading in the courthouse with the brothers. Cal and Ethan were now sitting outside the courtroom waiting for Carol to give them the thumbs up.
"Listen Ethan, you should of told Connie or Zoe that your ribs are still hurting. You did fall down like two flights of stairs." Cal said as he looked at Ethan with a sigh.
"Cal, they will heal, believe it or not, I am a doctor myself." Ethan tried to joke but he wasn't getting through to Cal at all.
"After this court hearing, I'm taking you back to the ED even if I have to drag you!" Cal exclaimed seriously.
"Fine, but let's not worry about me now. I'm more concerned about keeping Christian safe with us." Ethan put Christian before him.
"I know, and they still haven't found Danny which makes it even more worrying." Cal finally remembered about him.
"He won't be allowed near the school gates let alone in Christians classroom so he's safe." Ethan smiled.
"Dr Knight, Dr Hardy. The judge is ready. Okay?" Carol called from down the hall.
The brothers took a deep breath, stood up and walked into court room. Ethan and Cal sat in a newly decorated room, at a table with blue comfy chairs. They awaited for the judge to enter the room, when she does so: Ethan, Cal, Carol along with everyone else stands.
"Okay this is a case for receiving custody of Christian Fields by brothers Dr Caleb Knight, the father and Dr Ethan Hardy, the uncle. Alongside Carol Wickers, Children's Social Worker. How are you all today?" A slim built female judge spoke.
"Fine, your Honour." Carol and Cal replied. Ethan didn't answer, he couldn't. Cal looked at him worryingly.
"Very good. Right Dr Knight, you had a son with deceased Deborah Fields, is that right?" The judge had her eyes fixed on Cal.
"Yes, your honour." Cal spoke trying to sound confident.
"You only discovered Christian existed about nearly three weeks ago, is that correct?"
"Yes your honour. He turned up where I work." Cal started to sound nervous.
"And where do you work Dr Knight? In a hospital?"
"Yes, an emergency department, the same as Dr Hardy." Cal head pointed to his brother, the judge looked at the pale doctor.
"Is Dr Hardy okay?"
"He's fine." Cal answered for Ethan.
"Sorry Dr Knight, I need to hear that from Dr Hardy. Does he require medical attention?" The judge smiled lightly.
Ethan stood up slowly, wincing.
"I'm fine..." Ethan grunted quietly. "Your honour." Ethan finished his answer.
"Very well. You may sit." The judge still looked at him with concern. Ethan sat back down quietly groaning in pain. "Dr Hardy, I heard you were involved in a house explosion a few days ago and going against your brothers wishes, you turned up for this case when you knew you should be recovering, is that correct?" Ethan nodded at the judges question. "Are you okay to proceed?"
"Yes your honour." Ethan wasn't sure if he was lying or telling the truth now.
"Okay. Since you two are in full time employment, who will look after Christian in the day and night?" The judge asked as she looked at some paper on her desk.
"Well Christian will be at school during the day on weekdays, I got weekends off while me and Ethan share the weekday evenings off to be able to pick Christian up from school and look after him for the rest of the day." Cal answered confidently.
"Okay and you believe Christian was being abused in his temporary housing?"
"Can my brother answer this question?" Cal asked, Ethan did know more about it than he did.
"Of course."
Ethan didn't stand, he stayed sitting.
"Your honour, Christian was being abused by a 17 year old orphan. This 17 year old was almost involved in the house explosion but managed to escape before I could but there is no update on his where about." Ethan exhaled. It really hurt when he spoke.
"Okay, we won't worry about him for a second. Miss Wickers, you and another social worker received a call from someone anonymous saying Christian was being abused by Dr Knight and Dr Hardy. Is this true?"
"Yes your honour, but we went straight to their house and checked Christian, he was happy and healthy. Turns out the person who made the call was the boy who abused Christian at his orphanage." Carol responded truthfully.
"Okay, let's talk about this boy now. What's his name?"
"We believe his name is Danny White. Been in foster care since he was seven after his parents left him in an abandoned house, he has ADHD and a history of anger management. He abducted Christian a few days ago and threatened to kill himself and Christian with a grenade." Carol answered. The boys both looked worried.
"And that's when Dr Hardy got involved?"
"Yes your honour. Dr Knight and Dr Hardy went to the orphanage to find Christian in the corner of a room on the 2nd floor. Dr Knight managed to get him and Christian out of the house while Dr Hardy stayed and tried to persuade Danny to put the weapon down and get help but Danny set the weapon off before jumping out of the two storey window." Carol spoke confidently.
"And Dr Knight, you also saved Christian from being hit by an ambulance, is that true?" The judge sounded a little amazed. Cal sat there, how did the judge know all this?
"Yes your honour." Cal smiled.
"Well you both showed you can be faithful bodyguards to Christian. That's a good start. I'll have to schedule a second court hearing with a witness to completely agree with you two having custody but so far, I'm satisfied." The judge showed a small smile. Cal smiled in relief. "Court dismissed."
Everyone rose as the judge left the room. Cal, Ethan and Carol were in the court car park.
"I will call you guys when we have a second court date set, hopefully Ethan will be a bit more...alert." Carol looked at Ethan Cal turned around behind him to also look at Ethan who was leaning on the car, white as a sheet.
"I got to get him to the ED and find out what's wrong with him. Thank you for everything so far Carol." Cal tried to sound calm.
"It's my job." Carol smiled. Cal smiled back at Carol, then walked to his car and helped Ethan in. He was breathless for no reason.
"Nibbles, I know you probably don't feel like speaking but thanks for being here." Ethan smiled while his head was back against the headrest, looking up, breathing quickly. "Right, let's get you looked at." Cal spoke as he turned the engine on.
Suddenly Ethan coughed up yellow mucus and passed out again.
"Ethan?" Cal put his two fingers on Ethan's neck, pulse was slow. "ETHAN!" Cal quickly put on Ethan's seatbelt and drove as quickly as he could to the ED.