There Can Only Be One

She's a Child

They sat at the conference table patiently waiting. The tapping of their pens and feet was the only sound they could hear. Everyone was silent because at this very moment no one knew what to say or do.

After about thirty minutes a knock on the door grabbed everyone's attention. It was Meryl and Don's lawyer. Mr. Conroy sat up and walked over to the door and began whispering.
He closed the door then walked back over

"Jessica, Meryl wants to talk to you." He says hesitantly.

"Me?" Jessica says sternly sitting up.

"Yes. You don't have to."

"Where is she?" Jessica stood up fixing her dress.

"Jess, I don't think this is a good idea." Sam says grabbing onto Jessica's sleeve.

"Let go!" Jessica snaps yanking her arm away.

Greg takes Jessica out of the room to Meryl who waited in another small conference room.

Jessica stood at the door and stared at Meryl who sat alone. Her body became warm as anger quickly flowed through her body.

Jessica cleared her throat and Meryl quickly turned around. She stood up politely and walked over to Jessica.

"I'll be fine Greg." Jessica says turning around.

He leaves them alone and Meryl looks at Jessica breaking the silence.

"I have to do this for my family." She says

"By taking away someone from my family?" Jessica says

"Jessica, if I could go back I never would have gave her up."

Jessica crosses her arms and rolls her eyes trying not to cry.

"You are doing this for yourself Meryl. I bet you haven't thought about how this will effect Kennedy. She's only ten! We are her family. I can't stress enough how her life will change so much in a way that she won't like. You had your chance ten years ago but you dumped her off for drugs. Don didn't even want her. Now you decided to come in and ruin everything. I remember one of the first things you told me, to take care of her and give her he best life. That's what I did everyday Meryl. And I'm still doing it today. But you are ruining that. This isn't making her life the best it could be. She's too young to go through this. Let her decide in eight years. Not now. If you just saw her with us, you would know. You would know how happy she is and how she wouldn't want it any other way."

"She's my daughter Jessica."

Jessica's eyes overflowed with tears. She looked away from Meryl.

"Do you remember what great friends we were?" Meryl says as Jessica slowly heads to the door.

Jessica ignored her.

"If I win I'll still let her see you. She'll just live with me."

"Do you think Kennedy is some kind of prize? This is a child, not a prize. This is a life you are talking about."

Meryl was speechless.

Jessica opened the door. Kennedy stood tall next to their lawyer and Sam. Jessica cupped her cheeks and bent down to hug Kennedy.

"Don't cry mommy." Kennedy says in a shaky tone.

Meryl walked behind Jessica and looked down at Kennedy and smiled at her.

Kennedy lifted up her head that was resting on Jessica's shoulder and gave Meryl a long hard stare.

"You can't do this to me!" Kennedy screams

Jessica quickly stands up and Sam picks up Kennedy moving her away from Meryl.

"Kennedy, don't raise your voice." Sam says holding her tight.

Jessica stands next to Sam to comfort Kennedy.

"I hate you! I won't live with you. You aren't my mom!"

"We should take her back into the conference room." Greg says turning them around.

Sam nods and starts walking the other way.

Jessica turned back and saw the tears that fled down Meryl's face.

"I'm sorry." She mumbles

When they get back into the conference room Sam puts Kennedy down as she hysterically cries.

"Kennedy, take deep breaths." Sam says

"I hate her!"

"Don't say that honey." Sam says

"Mommy..." Kennedy says looking at Jessica who had her face towards the wall.

"What if she wins." Kennedy mumbles

Jessica didn't answer. She just stared coughing and crying covering her face.

Sam walked over to her and held her from behind.

"Jessica we have to be strong for her." Sam whispers

"I can't..."

**
It was hours later and the judge still hadn't made a discussion. 

While they ate lunch Greg was pulled out of the room.

"Did he decide yet?" Kennedy says

"I'm not sure...." Sam says

Kennedy sat on Jessica's lap and Jessica had her arms wrapped around her. Jessica's head weightlessly rested on top of Kennedys head.

A couple moments later the door jolted open.

"They dropped it!" He screams

They all sat up quickly.

"Dropped it? What?"

"She dropped the case!"

"Really?" Jessica says

"Yes, and the judge said there is no way they would be able to win, our past records prove it's a closed adoption."

"Wait, why did she drop the case?" Sam says

"That doesn't matter. Congrats!" Greg runs over to the and hugs the all.

Jessica began crying tears of joy, so did Sam and Kennedy.

Sam picked up Kennedy and gave her a big hug and kiss lifting her in the air.

"I love you baby."  He says hugging her tightly.

"We did it!" Kennedy smiles

"That's right!" Jessica giggles

"Thank you mom and dad." Kennedy says

"For what sweetheart?" Sam says

"For what?" Jessica says tilting her head.

"Being the best mom and dad. Giving me the best life possible. Words can't describe how lucky I am. Thank you for adopting me."

"Aww baby. Thank you for making our lives so amazing. Thank you for teaching us what true love really is." Jessica runs her finger down Kennedys cheek and smiles.

"My girls." Sam says

Hope you like it!