Cobra Kai: A Family Affair

29

J.P. Nunnelly rushed out of her company chauffeured car and up the court steps to where her friend and client was waiting "Hey, updated witness list from the opposition for today."
"Shit." Mike swore when he saw the new name.
"Guess that answers my next question." J.P. drawled.

"Mr. LaRusso, thank you for coming down here on such short notice." Benny greeted the man in the witness box. "It's no problem. My family and I were going to be here to support Tory and Brandon anyway."
"That's nice. It's my understanding that you studied karate as a teen and taught your children the art later in life, is that correct?"
"Yes, I did. Samantha who is around Tory's age took to it like a duck to water when she was young but my son, Anthony wasn't that interested (too much a product of the smartphone generation) but he's taken it up now."
"That must bring you great pleasure."
"It does."
"And how would you classify your teaching style?"
"Objection. Relevance?" J.P. questioned.
"Your Honour, I promise you the relevance will become completely clear when my client, Mr. Herondale takes the stand later and when I cross examine Mr. Barnes."
"I'll allow it. Overruled." Judge Kane decided causing J.P. to sit down and Mike to grimace.
"Thank you. Now, Mr. LaRusso, I asked how would you classify your teaching style." Benny repeated.
"Well, I believe that karate is for defence only. So I try to stay away from flashy offensive moves."
"Sure. But how would your students, your children, describe your teaching methods? Are they safe and fair?"
"Objection. Speculation." J.P. tried again to stop the testimony.
"Sustained. Ask another question counsellor."
"Have you ever hurt one of your children when you were teaching them, even by accident?"
"No."
"Have you ever got angry whilst teaching them? Were cruel in your methods?"
"No and no."
"Thank you, Mr LaRusso, that'll be all."

"Miss Nunnelly, your witness." Judge Kane declared as Benny returned to his seat. Mike sighed and shook his head. "Your Honour, may we request a short recess."
"You have 10 minutes." She said banging the gavel.

"That was bad." Mike said to J.P. in the conference room.
"Maybe it's not that bad."
"No, it is. I can't believe Jace is gonna pull this bullshit."
"Mike, you need to tell me right now what you did."

While Mike was on the stand he couldn't exactly turn off lawyer mode being in such a familiar environment:

"Objection. Speculation." He said in response to a question Ms. Bredehoft asked him. Kandace's lawyer turned to look at Judge Kane in confusion. "H-He can't do that, can he?"
"No, he can't do that. Mr Barnes I realise that you are a fellow law practitioner, however please remember that you chose not to represent yourself and therefore you must rely on your counsel to call any objections."
"Sorry, Your Honour, force of habit."
"I asked if your schedule and base of operations in Chicago would fluctuate more than my client's here in the San Fernando Valley."
"Objection. Speculation." J.P. called standing up and Mike nodded in agreement.
"Sustained. Ask another question counsellor." Judge Kane ruled.
"I actually have no further questions for this witness." Ms. Bredehoft concluded.

"Your Honour, I request a redirect." J.P. declared standing up.
"Okay, Miss Nunnelly, your client."
"Mr. Barnes, when Victoria was born, how did that day start for you?"
"Um, I was actually in an accident."
"Like a car accident?"
"No. Um... my job at the time was a MMA fighter. A few days prior I had participated in and won a match in L.A. and apparently the other guy wasn't too happy about that. He and some of his buddies jumped me in our hometown, Sunnydale, it's about an hour south of here."
"Right. So you were injured?"
"Severely, almost gravely."
"Well, clearly that didn't happen as you are here today."
"No. I was quite good at my job - so I used my skills in that real world fight."
"Just your skills?"
"Well, I did have a good reason to fight too. I knew I was going to get to meet my daughter later that day. So I had to fight, to stay alive, for my daughter's sake. Being a father is the reason I'm still alive today." Mike testified with teary eyes.

"Oh give me a break." Jace muttered under his breath.

Everyone apart from Jace seemed moved by Mike's testimony including the judge who called "We'll take a 1 hour recess for lunch."

In their conference room, Jace screamed and shouted his frustrations out "That's not the full story. Ask him where he was when those guys surrounded him. He was in Whilster's fight club! Who goes to a fight club in the morning of their child's due date?"
"To be fair, that does sound like something you would do as well." Alec commented but thankfully Jace was too busy ranting and ignored him. "And, how do you explain why he put so much effort in to stay alive 'to meet his daughter' if he just left her 4 years later? Huh? Ask him that?"
"Don't let them rattle you Jace. Nunnelly had to do something to score Barnes points after our and Bredehoft's cross examination." Dr. Bull advised. "You will get your chance later. They tried to rewrite the story and you will have your chance to set it straight. You need to get up there and tell them the truth. Judge Kane is smart, she'll know the truth when she hears it. You tell the truth and you will win this."

Meanwhile across the hall, Mike and J.P. were celebrating. "Nice one J.P., I had no idea how we were going to tell that story without me pleading the fifth." Mike praised his friend.
"Come on Mike, you should know by now, I'm a fixer. I fix things or make them go away." They were interrupted by a knock at the door. J.P. opened it to reveal Ms. Bredehoft and Kandace. "Can we help you with something?"
"Actually, I think we can both help each other." Ms. Bredehoft replied. J.P. looked back at Mike who shrugged then nodded deciding to hear them out. Ms. Bredehoft and Kandace knew that they were losing the case but they also knew there was something that could help them as well as Mike.

When the hour recess was up an officer of the court escorted Dr. Bull and Mr. Colon to Judge Kane's chambers were they found Ms. Nunnelly and Ms. Bredehoft already there.

The two female lawyers argued that it's not fair that they cannot discuss Jace and Alec's jobs in court.
"Of course you would argue that. It's because your entire case hinges on that!" Benny argued back - their main argument was that Jace and Alec would not be able to care for the children permanently.
"Surely there is an exception, you're telling me no one in all of the military has ever been involved in a custody battle." Judge Kane questioned, understanding the predicament the lawyers were in and that full-time guardians were quite an important issue.
"Apparently not Navy SEALs." Dr. Bull commented.
"Look, we will talk with our clients and try to find some more leeway but we can't promise anything." Benny agreed.
"Thank you. And until then court is adjourned. Mr. Lightwood and Mr. Herondale retain temporary custody of the children." Judge Kane declared.

Tory, Brandon and Robby were confused when Jace and Alec returned home earlier than expected and with unhappy looks on their faces.
"What happened?" Tory asked. Jace and Alec shared a look before briefly glancing at Brandon. Robby noticed and jumped off the barstool saying "Brandon, why don't you show me how you're getting on with that skateboard trick I showed you last week?" Tory shot her boyfriend a grateful smile as he grabbed his skateboard and ushered her little brother out of the apartment.
"Why are you home early?"
"Court's adjourned."
"Why? For how long?"
"Because we can't discuss our jobs; which means the other side can't use them to say why we shouldn't be your guardians - which is the majority of their argument, so they want to be able to discuss them." Jace explained.
"Is that even possible?"
"I have no idea." Alec stated honestly.