Piper ~ H.S

~Fifty-Four~

A/N: Next chapter is here :D And it's actually pretty damn long, so prepare yourselves hehe

"Miss Herrera, have you ever seen any signs of abusive behaviour from Mr Foster?"

"No, Your Honour," Danica shook her head, "we barely argue – and even when we do, he doesn't lay a finger on me. It seems like Leah is the only person who can really test his nerves."

I immediately rolled my eyes at her statement.

Thank you very much, Danica.

"Leah is too protective of her daughter," Danica continued, "she usually totally overreacts whenever she hears that Heath has made even a minor mistake. She did the exact same thing about all of this – which is why we're in this court today."

"Er..." Judge Alexandra frowned, "Miss Herrera, wasn't Miss Marrone upset with Mr Foster because her young child saw things she shouldn't have seen?" She gave her a look, "Such as him and you engaging in sexual relations while she was just next door?"

Danica blushed. "Your Honour...I-I guess all I can say about that is...i-it was a moment of weakness?"

"But so close to your daughter, Mr Foster?" The judge turned her attention to Heath, "Looks like you need to start thinking a little more with the head in your scalp – not the one in your pants."

Heath seemed startled by the judge's words – and I saw his cheeks start to flush a little as well.

"Like Danica said, Your Honour, it was just a moment of weakness," he replied, "but it is not a good reason for Leah to request all this BS about supervised visitation!"

Alexandra cocked an eyebrow at him. "But she hasn't requested 'this BS' because of that, Mr Foster. She's requested it out of concern for the behaviour you've displayed."

"Allegedly displayed, Your Honour," Heath retorted, "she's making way too big a deal about it."

"Miss Marrone is not the victim here, Your Honour," Heath's lawyer chimed in, "it is my client who is the victim – as he was dealt far more physical injury. It's his behaviour that you should really be concerned about," he looked at Harry with narrowed eyes, "at least Mr Foster wasn't throwing his fists around during the incident."

I saw Harry lower his eyes a little – clearly showing that he was starting to feel guilty for what he'd done when he didn't even have to. So, I quickly slipped my fingers into his out of the hope that he might feel a little comforted.

"Oh, yes. I nearly forgot about that," Judge Alexandra laced her fingers together on the countertop and looked at Harry, "Mr Styles, please tell me more about your own clash with Mr Foster."

I heard Harry gulp quietly, and I gave his hand a quick squeeze – hoping it would give him a confidence boost. And it actually seemed to work – since he took one long, deep breath before finally looking up at the judge.

"Your Honour, it is true that I punched him. But I only did it out of defence for Leah," his voice was clear and confident, "I didn't witness the whole confrontation between Leah and Heath, I admit – because I was out of the house. But when I got home, I saw all I needed to see," I felt him tense up a little, "he treated her like a rag doll – throwing her against the walls and constantly taunting her, saying stuff like 'Does that hurt, Leah?! Does that hurt?!'," he gritted his teeth a little, "I couldn't watch it, Your Honour. I had to stop him. And...I know that...punching him in the face wasn't exactly the best way to go, but I...I did just it...without even thinking..." he let out a sigh.

"Your Honour," Brandon spoke up after Harry, "if it helps, we have a physical record of the whole incident," he said, "there's a security system set up in my clients' home, and the security cameras caught the whole thing on tape," he opened his briefcase and held up a disc in a clear plastic case.