blaze of desire // billie eilish fanfiction

sixteen: her.

delilah

"what the fuck are these papers i just got?" luna said the moment i picked up the phone. "you're suing me for custody? why?" the rage in her voice was almost frightening.

"to protect my daughter and i." i replied.

"from what? i'm not a kidnapper, im not a sociopath, im her mom." she replied.

"i need to make sure that she is protected under the law, i'm scared of what might happen in the future and so i did something about it." i replied.

"again! from what!"

"i don't need to explain to you why. i've given you many chances luna, did you know that she can have a full blown conversation now? she understands shit, she's a really fast runner and she can sneak up on you. no you don't, because you haven't made the time to see her in months. and trust me, she remembers you and i know for a fact that she doesn't care for you." i replied.

"you're aware that i have one of the best lawyers in the country working for me?" she asked.

"i am very aware i have a badass lawyer too, you can't scare me to back down." i replied. "we can settle, or we can go to the courts, you decide. just don't call me again until all of this is over, if you need to contact me contact my lawyer please."

new year new beginnings and for me that meant stop making excuses for luna. i came to the conclusion that i shouldn't be having a soft spot for her, not anymore. juniper is growing up and she's too smart for her own age but ill be damned if my daughter thinks there is something missing in her because her other parent decided to be a child themself. she is my perfect girl and i will make sure that she is safe and protected.
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we couldn't settle. i didn't want to ban luna from seeing juni, i needed to make sure that i had the parental rights to decision making. that i didn't have to go back to luna to consider changing schools in the future because what would luna know? i wanted to be able to take my daughter somewhere without having that be used against me as kidnapping or some shit.

the law does not make sense. i needed to make sure everything was clear.

luna was asking for more days than she could handle only to spite me. i wanted child care because luna was loaded and juniper deserves the best education. luna wanted to appoint juniper a nanny or some shit in order to prove that she is capable, which only told me she was incapable.

that is the reason why i hugged juniper harder than ever when i dropped her off at day care today and had eloise drive me to court. i hadn't seen luna for months before finding her with a smug look next to her lawyer.

i was instructed not to say a word until i was called on stand. all of my witnesses were behind me and all of hers were behind her. people i hadn't seen in years. people i've always known hated me.

it was clear to me from the moment the case had moved forward that luna's lawyer was going to turn the past against me now. except no one in that room was buying it no matter how much more evidence was presented, it was all years ago. in collage. before juniper even existed.

apparently them having more witnesses was a smart way to buy time for themselves. i wasn't sure what they were buying time for though. i had made it clear that luna would not be out of juniper's life unless she herself decided that.

it took all day for the judge to grant me full custody. there will be another hearing for child support that definitely wasn't going to take as long as this one did and it was scheduled for the following week.

i called mom and dad the moment i stepped out of that room, while i was getting nasty looks from people from old chapters of my life. i cried and ellie held me, its not that i wasn't confident we would win, i just felt so much relief for the first time in a long time. i needed that cry and i needed to go and pick up juni that same moment.