A Second Chance (Jenlisa)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Stress came back knocking on Jennie's door. As much as she was trying to not think about the court date, she just couldn't. Jennie was not able to sleep throughout the night, and if she did manage to get some sleep, it was only a couple hours.

Mark was there to give her strength and reassure her that everything would be ok and she didn't need to worry about anything. But that wasn't enough for Jennie, she appreciated everything Mark did for her. But simple words couldn't put her at ease.

The anxiety attacks also came back just like the stress, but no one knew about it. She didn't want to worry Mark more than he already was. Jennie's anxiety attacks would only hit her while she was at work, deep into her thoughts. Or at night when she would wake up to go get something to drink at the kitchen, or at least she would tell Mark, telling him she wasn't going to be long. But that was not the truth, Mark didn't notice how long she wasn't in because he would just go back to sleep.

The following day that Jennie was served by Roseanne, she immediately called her lawyer and put her up to date. Danielle, her lawyer and good friend was a great lawyer, especially family law.

Danielle was able to push back her court date and have a mediation meeting with Lisa and her lawyers instead of having a court hearing with a judge. Danielle told Jennie that they would push the issue with the judge as much possible. Danielle told Jennie that they would try to solve the issue through mediation. Most families are able to get through an agreement through mediation and it was for everyone's interest. Both Danielle and Jennie knew that letting a judge make that kind of decision wouldn't be fair to someone. Jennie wasn't going to take that kind of risk of her being the one getting screwed over.

Jennie knew that allowing a 'judge' to have the power to decide what was the best interest over her son was not the best decision. Because judges didn't know the families and their stories. They only made their decisions based on facts and what was presented to them at the moment.

Jennie was on the phone with Danielle going over their plan since their mediation meeting was the following day. Mark stepped out to the living room and saw the young brunette girl sitting on the couch with her face buried on her hands sobbing quietly. The tall man sat next to her and hugged her getting her closed to him.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Mark said as he wiped thee tears from her face.

"Everything will be fine. Remember that you told me that Danielle is a great lawyer, both her and her team. Come on, let's go to bed so you can get some rest" The tall guy got up and offered his hand to Jennie.

Jennie got up, wiping her tears that were beginning to dry on her cheeks. She knew she wasn't going to be able to get some sleep, but Mark was right. She had to get some rest or a least attempt to. She knew that tomorrow was a very important day and she needed to be in her right mind.

Jennie looked like a zombie the following morning when she looked at herself in the mirror. She had very dark and baggy eyes, and her flawless beautiful skill didn't have that glow she always had. Of course, it was inevitable to look like that after no sleep for more than an hour last night. In reality, it had been weeks that Jennie barely ate and got some sleep. She would barely touch her food at home while having dinner with Henry and Mark. While at work, she would only drink coffee or tea to keep her awake and get her through the day.

Jennie knew that what she was doing wasn't healthy for her. But what was she doing to do when every time she would try to get some food in her stomach, she would feel nauseous and couldn't keep her food down? There was no point on eating if she was just going to throw it up.

Jennie took a quick shower and got ready. Sheput on a black pencil skirt and a white blouse. Jennie wasn't in a good mood toget ready like she used to. But she knew she couldn't go like that either. Sheput on some make up to hide away her tiredness and she let her long black hairdown.

Once Jennie was done getting ready, she stepped out of the room and got Henryready as well before dropping him off at daycare. Henry and Mark were the onlyones who ate breakfast; Jennie could take a single bite so she decided not toeat.

They left home and once they dropped Henry off, they headed to the courthouse.Danielle took them to a small room where they could discuss things morequietly.

"Everything will be fine Jennie, stay calm. Remember that my assistant and I willtake care of everything. There's no need for you to say anything" Jennie noddedtrying to calm her nerves that had her on edge.

They talked a bit more about their plan, the different options they had, andany other questions Jennie had.

They all stepped out of the small office and went to the conference room whereLisa and her lawyers were already there. Jennie looked at the tall girl, butdidn't say anything. She still couldn't believe that they had to resort tothis. Just a few months ago, her and Lisa were trying to work things out andbeing a happy family with Henry.

But of course, things could get fucked on an instant, and that's what happened.

Jennie, Mark and, and her lawyers sat at one end of the long table. As for Lisaand her lawyers, they sat at the other end in front of them.

"Good morning, my name is Danielle Marsh and she's my assistant, Kate Williams.We're representing Ms. Kim" Said the young lawyer smiling.

"Good morning, I'm Andrew Jackson and this is Allison Cortez, mi partner. We'rerepresenting Ms. Manobal" Everyone greeted each other out of courtesy.

"Good, now that we've introduced ourselves, lets get this started. We're allhere trying to come up with a solution, one that is in the best interest ofHenry Samuel Kim" Danielle said "This mediation meeting is to come up with anagreement between us, without having to resort on taking this in front of ajudge."

"Records show that Ms. Kim is the only parent legally of Henry. She is the onlyperson on his birth certificate." Danielle gave the paperwork to Andrew.

"That is correct, but that's only because Ms. Manobal didn't know about thelittle one." Andrew interjected. "She was still living in the US, while Ms. Kimwas in Australia. There was no way for Ms. Manobal to know, unless Ms. Kim toldher."

"We have the DNA results stating Henry is Ms. Manobal's biological son" Allisongave Danielle and Kate the documents, they both examined them carefully.

Jennie looked at Lisa when she heard that. She couldn't believe that Lisa did aDNA test on Henry without her consent. Jennie bit her tongue before sayingsomething she would regret later.

Once Danielle finished looking at the documents, she placed them down andsmiled.

"Well, now that we know that in fact Henry is Ms. Manobal's son, what do youguys have in mind as far as custody arrangements?"

"Ms. Manobal wants her name to be on Henry's birth certificate"

"Of course not..." Jennie said getting up. Mark grabbed her by the wrist and toldher to sit back down. Danielle looked at her and told her quietly to justlisten and not talk.

"It's ok Jennie, I've got this." Danielle looked at Lisa and Andrew "If we makethe correct changes on Henry's birth certificate, then we will the ones to setthe conditions as far as his custody, which will be the following; Ms. Kim willhave 70% of the custody, which means that Henry will spend more time with herand this is because Ms. Manobal has a lot on her plate with her company,working long hours, and traveling for work often. So Henry will spend themajority of the time with Ms. Kim and he can spend every other weekend with Ms.Manobal."

"No, that's not possible..." Andrew said "If Henry only spends every otherweekend with Ms. Manobal, he would barely spend any time with her. This is whatwe have in mind; both Ms. Manobal and Ms. Kim should have 50/50 custody overtheir son. Henry can spend one week with Ms. Manobal and then the other weekwith Ms. Kim, that way they can both spend the same amount of time with him."

"No, that won't be possible Andrew. We're already agreeing on changing hisbirth certificate, it's only fair that Ms. Manobal agrees on the agreement wesaid."

"That's not fair Danielle; it's not fair for both Henry and Ms. Manobal. Howabout this; we'll change the birth certificate and Henry can go with Ms.Manobal from Thursday night and can go back with Ms. Kim on Sunday afternoon."

Jennie took a deep breath trying to calm down, she knew this was going to bedifficult, but not this hard.

"We are agreeing on making the correct changes on the birth certificate Andrew,which is already a lot to ask. Especially after Ms. Kim was the one who tookcare of Henry ever since he was born. Ms. Manobal barely came into his life afew months ago. Let's not talk about all the child support that is owed fromall those years..."

"Money is not a problem Ms. Marsh, we can pay all the money that it's owed andmore... and let me remind you that Ms. Kim didn't say anything to Ms. Manobalwhen she got pregnant."

"I don't want to get into details why your client didn't know about Henry, sothis is my last offer; Ms. Manobal can spend two weekends back to back withHenry at the beginning of the month. After that it would go back to every otherweekend" Andrew got quiet, trying to thinking on another counteroffer. Andrewlooked at Jennie and smiled at her.

"I don't think you would want to have a court hearing in front of a judge,right Ms. Kim? You know what judges do and know that someone always ends uplosing. Are you willing to take that risk? I think the best outcome is to sharehis custody equally. Remember, we're doing all this for Henry's sake..."

Jennie looked at him with rage and then looked at Danielle, asking if she couldspeak. Danielle shook her head letting her know that if she spoke, it would bea bad idea. She then closed her briefcase and looked at Lisa and Andrew.

"We'll give you some time to think about our offers, we can set up anothermeeting for next week. If you guys don't agree, then we'll see a judge."Danielle said the last sentence in a serious tone.

"That's fine, we'll see you guys next week." Andrew started gathering all hisdocuments. Jennie, Mark, Danielle, and Kate exited the conference room and wentback to the officer they were at before.

"This is why I didn't want this to happen in the first place. We got no where"Jennie said sitting down frustrated.

"Stay calm Jen, this is how all this goes. But don't worry; this is part of mystrategy. If they agree on this, then there's not reason to have see a judge"Jennie bit her lip, trying not to cry.

"I don't want to lose my son..." Mark sat next to her and hugged her trying tocalm her down.

"You won't lose him, trust me..." Danielle sat next to her and gave her a sympatheticsmile.

Jennie wanted to be optimistic and stay calm trying to understand that thingswould be ok. But it was easier said than done. Jennie didn't want to have tofight with Lisa over Henry. She loved him so much that the simply thought thatLisa could take him away from her, made her heart ache.





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Oh my goodness me, will they ever come to an agreement?

Thank you for the over 1000 reads! I'm really happy you guys are enjoying the story. I read all of you guy's comments.

Just want to make a couple things clear, I love every single one of my girls. How I'm portraying them in the story is not how I see them in real life. This is just to have a good plot.

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