At Last

IV

"State your names for the record."

"Nicholas Jerry Jonas."

"Demetria Devonne Lovato."

"Thank you. I am William Cartwright, the attorney that will be in charge of this custody conciliation conference. If a custody agreement can not be arranged between the two parties, then the case will either go to mediation or directly before judge. Do both of you understand that?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Okay, to begin, Mr. Jonas, why are you asking for sole custody of your two four year old children, Nicholas Jerry Jonas Jr. and Nolie Marie Jonas?"

Just from the way that the attorney, Mr. Cartwright said Nick's name, Demi could tell how this was going to go. Knowing his family, they probably had some distant connection to him, like his wife served as Kevin's second assistant or something and for the sake of her job he would have to rule in Nick's favor, because that was just how his family operated. And no one knew that better than her.

"I have reason to believe that the DNA tests that were taken on my children were tampered with or false, which is what led me to give up my parental rights in the first place. I've realized that I've made a mistake and I want to be in the lives of my children," Nick explained in his "sincere" voice, but there was nothing sincere about what he said. If he really wanted to be in the lives of his kids, he would've seen them in the past six months when Demi had offered to let him. But instead he had ignored him and ignored the kids that he had fathered for four years so he clearly didn't care about them. So what was the point of all of this?

"But why completely take them away from the custody of their mother?" Mr. Cartwright questioned as Demi folded her arms over her chest and cut her eyes over to Nick.

"Because she's irresponsible. She's a mess and it's so clear. My son was rushed to the hospital after having a severe allergic reaction to peanuts on her watch. She's too busy with her new boyfriend to even properly take care of my kids, always handing them off to nannies and-"

"I thought we weren't presenting any evidence right now? I thought we were just trying to reach a custody agreement without having to go to court?" Demi interrupted, because the rules had been spread out for them by their own attorneys before this meeting was even arranged, but of course Nick felt like the rules didn't apply to him.

"Don't interrupt Ms. Lovato." She felt like a little kid being scolded at for taking too many cookies from the cookie jar. "But you're right. Mr. Jonas, we're not presenting evidence right now, we just need to reach an agreement so that you won't have to see a judge."

"The agreement is that Ms. Lovato gives me sole custody of my children," Nick said, as if that was the final decision. As if his word was the only word that mattered. And it only reminded her how much she loathed this man. She had once loved him with everything inside of her but now she absolutely hated him for trying to take away the people that meant the most to her.

"You're not getting sole custody of my children. You don't even care about them, Nick. What is this really about? Why are you doing this?" Demi questioned, looking away from the lawyer to look at Nick.

"I'm doing this because I want sole custody of my children," Nick stated as Demi shook her head and folded her arms over her chest.

"So it's sole custody or nothing?" Mr. Cartwright's question was directed at Nick, who nodded his head and leaned back in his chair.

"Then mediation it is. Your lawyers will alert you when the date for mediation is set and you both must show on that date with no exceptions. Understood?" Mr. Cartwright said as Nick nodded so Demi did as well. It was clear that Nick was going to drag this thing out for as long as possible but she just couldn't understand why. Why was he making them go through this when Demi had peacefully offered him as much as time with the kids that he wanted but he hadn't taken it? If he didn't want them then, why did he want them now?