ALL I DO.
{ irl }

a/n : i hardly have any idea how things work in court tbh so i apologize if this is inaccurate
i did tons of research, but im still not confident

"jasmine and dave silvers." the judge announces, reading their names from a document. his voice is deep and intimidating. when he looks up from the papers, his eyes scan around the room. he notices niola before anyone else. his eyebrows go up. "who is this?"

"this is niola silvers, sir." dave explains politely. "she's our oldest daughter. i brought her here to testify against her mother for custody."

jasmine glances in niola's direction. she didn't know that was the reason niola was here. she was too happy to see her daughter to think about why dave even brought her here in the first place. jasmine was about to feel upset when she noticed the way niola's picking at her fingernail polish anxiously.

jasmine may not have been present for most of her child's life, but she knows all of her habits. she knows that niola picks at things – skin, nails, clothing, etc. – when she's scared. but why would she be scared?

"children are not allowed to be present during family cases such as this." the judge states, leaning forward on his elbows to glare down at dave. "you must've known this, correct?"

"yes, but-"

"no." the judge interrupts him. "children aren't allowed in this room unless we know for certain that her claims aren't influenced by an exterior party. and seeing as you just said that you brought her here to speak ill on your ex-wife, i have no reason to believe that you've told her exactly what to say and do."

dave goes silent, knowing that the man is right.

"your honor," niola speaks up, causing everyone to look in her direction. there's no jury, so there's barely any people. but that doesn't make her any less nervous. "what i want to say has not been influenced by either of my parents, and i can prove it. my-"

the judge hold a hand up to stop her from continuing. "if you have physical proof, i will accept your request to testify. however, i don't want to hear it until after i've heard your parents' cases."

niola nods, stepping back in order to draw less attention to herself.

"is there a specific shirt you want?" chris asks matt after he dragged both of his brothers into a random shop.

they've been at the mall for a few hours, but matt hasn't bought anything yet. chris and nick both have multiple bags on their arms since they've chosen a good amount of shit to buy. matt bought some food at the food court for lunch, but no clothes or anything.

out of nowhere, matt grabbed each of his brothers' wrists and pulled them into a random store.

"yeah." matt says while walking into the women's section. nick and chris look at each other strangely when matt starts browsing through cropped shirts. he notices their expressions and adds, "i'm looking for niola, not me."

"ohhh!" nick says. "i mean, you can wear whatever you want and i'll support it, but i didn't exactly think that crop tops were your style."

"they're not niola's either." chris says, looking at the flashy tops. "i might be wrong, but i don't think i've ever seen her wear a crop top. she's normally wearing your clothes."

"yeah, because she can't afford anything she likes." matt says without thinking. as soon as he said it, he wishes he hadn't. nick and chris didn't know about niola's financial issues. but matt just ruined that by angrily explaining it without any warning.

"wait, what?"

"how about you guys go look at the pants!" matt suggests, pushing his brothers away to avoid the embarrassment of having to explain himself. "the men's section isn't that bad, actually."

"i pay for all of our kids' clothes, food, and shelter." dave lies with a straight face. "my wife hardly does anything to provide for her own children! it's blatantly careless and selfish! i mean, why would she even have children if she was just going to neglect them like this?"

niola did some research before coming here. she had no clue how court worked and she didn't want to be clueless. according to google, you're not supposed to talk shit about your partner because it makes you look desperate and frankly quite stupid.

also, while standing along the sidelines, niola has noticed a few things.

she's noticed that the judge wears a wedding ring. she's also noticed the tan-line underneath the ring, revealing that he's been married for a long time and he's likely very dedicated to his wife. now, when she assumes that he's had a child or two, she's definitely stereotyping. but most relationships that have lasted that long end up resulting in a few kids.

which means that the judge might take extra pity on niola once she's released her wound, because he'll most likely imagine something like that happening to his own child.

"jasmine, is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?" the judge asks, gesturing for niola's mom to speak.

"even if he paid for everything – which he doesn't – i'm still the one who makes the money for these things to be purchased." jasmine explains, trying her hardest to sound like she's simply stating the facts rather than talking shit.

"do either of you have any receipts to prove this?" the judge asks. jasmine and dave both shake their heads in response. "if neither of you have receipts, who pays for the children's recourses?"

"i do!" dave says. "i just don't have any receipts on me because i always throw them away. i don't like saving papers like that, haha."

"have you made any transactions, mister silvers?"

embarrassed, dave shakes his head. "no."

"then who does?" the judge asks, his voice coming our angry and aggressive. "if neither of you tell me the truth, i'll have to assume that your kids simply don't get the attention they need. and if this is the case, they'll be sent to an outside family member – such as a grandparent, aunt, or uncle."

nobody says anything. niola wants to say that she's the one who buys everything, but she doesn't want to interfere more than necessary. she's afraid that anything she says might jeopardize her testimony.

she has proof on her phone that she's bought baby food and other groceries because she orders it online to avoid going to the store. she's found that this is much more convenient and faster. and due to this, her shopping history has been saved on the app she uses.

"niola does." jasmine finally admits. "while i'm working and dave is gambling, niola is left to care for herself and her baby sister. she uses her weekly income that i provide her to buy groceries and other necessities."

the judge looks over at niola. for a moment, his expression seems like he might feel bad. but he quickly replaces it with a neutral facade. "do you have any proof of this?"

"yes." niola says.

fun fact : while doing research on court cases, niola saw that this might come up. so she decided to shove a random receipts into her pocket before leaving the house. she thought that this would end up being stupid and useless, but turns out it was quite beneficial in the end.

niola pulls the slip of paper out of her pocket and walks across the room to hand it to the judge. he takes it and reads a few word off of the paper.

eggs , cereal , milk , toothpaste , canned vegetables , bread , and bananas.

the judge returns the paper to niola and she stuffs it back into her pocket.

"considering that your daughter seems like the most fit parent in this situation, why shouldn't i give her custody over your other child?" the judge asks, waiting for jasmine and dave to give an explanation. "she's almost an adult, right?"

"you shouldn't give her custody because.." dave tries to come up with a reason, but he can't. his mind has gone blank and he can't seem to come up with another lie to get himself out of this situation. "you shouldn't give her custody because she isn't mature enough to handle the burden of having a chid yet."

"she seems mature enough to buy groceries each week rather than spending it on poker." the judge points out. "which would make her a more fit guardian than you, wouldn't it?"

dave doesn't respond. he just clamps his jaw shut in anger, looking down at his feet in shame.

"what about you, miss silvers?" the judge asks, directing the conversation toward niola's mom. "do you have any reason against this decision?"

"yes." she says.

"and what would that be?"

"my daughter is only seventeen, your honor. putting the responsibility of taking care of a baby would be too stressful. she's attending high school and would like to go to college in the future. but she wouldn't have enough time for academics if she's constantly worrying about her sister." jasmine says. "she's an amazing girl and i don't doubt that she would be an amazing to replace me. but i would never want her to have to give up her chance of being a normal teenager to take care of a child she didn't ask to take care of."

the judge doesn't say anything after that. he just stares at jasmine, analyzing the situation as best he can.

"before i make my final decision, i'd like to give your daughter a chance to give her input as well." he announces.

from the witness' seat, niola feels like she's about to crush under pressure. everyone's eyes are on her. dave is staring at her with intensity – expecting his daughter to deem him the hero in this situation. but then niola's eyes move over to her mom who gives her an encouraging smile. the smile jasmine gives her makes niola think of matt for some reason.

her mom probably thinks that niola is about to testify against her. but regardless, she's giving niola the confidence to speak simply because she knows she struggles when talking in front of a crown – even if it's a small one.

"to avoid any possible misinterpretations, i'll show you my proof before explaining the story behind it." niola says with a shaky voice.

she stands up from her chair and pulls her hair in front of her shoulder, revealing where the wound is. the judge's eyes widen and jasmine gasps. hearing her mom's gasp, niola knows that the wound isn't gone. which is a good thing since she was so worried about it being healed.

the burn mark is still there. it's less visible than it was when matt saw it, but it's distinguishable enough that it can be used against her father.

"what's the story behind this?" the judge asks.

niola explains the whole thing, leaving out nothing. she tells the judge about the bruise she got from the wine glass, the way dave didn't care if rayne saw the whole thing, the knife he nearly killed her with, and how matt saved her.

the whole time she's telling the story, niola is looking at her mom. she needs her mother's support in order to have enough confidence to even sit up here and talk against her dad.

her mom is fighting back tears at the image of her daughter having to go through something so horrible. but despite her teary eyes, jasmine still manages to smile at niola to encourage her to keep talking.

"dave silvers, you're under arrest for attempted murder and domestic abuse." the judge declares.

"but her boyfriend broke into my home!" dave says as guards enter the court room to take him away.

"at least he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart." the judge says. "whereas you don't have a heart to begin with." two men in security uniforms put dave in handcuffs before dragging him away while he shouts in protest.

"jasmine silvers, i grant you the custody over rayne and niola silvers." the judge bangs the gavel against the wood to finalize his decision.

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a/n : ik that judges don't actually use gavels that much but i wanted this whole scene to be dramatic since it's almost the end of the book
and i thought it would be more fun imagining a BANG at the end of a super long chapter
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