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Selena's POV:
"Yes. That's right, alright. Thank you so much." Daniel sighed and set down the phone on the table before turning to face us. "My lawyer's arriving at around four to discuss the court date." Delia tapped her fingers on the table nervously. "Has the court date been selected yet?" asked Brandon. "It has." Daniel slumped on his chair. "For the twentieth." he added. "That's only two weeks from now!" Brandon protested. "She can't really do this can she? That's not enough time to put through a proper case." he added. "Maybe she already had a case put together." I suggested. "And if you have the right connections, you could certainly push up the court dates." I said. Daniel nodded. "Selena is right. There's a very slim chance of us being allowed to push them further away so it's best to arrange the best case we have at the present time." said Daniel. "What exactly has she filed the case under?" I asked. "She's put it under custody rights." Daniel answered. "Didn't she hand over complete custody to you when you got divorced?" I pushed further. A small frown formed on Daniel's face. "Well I believe we filed for a joint custody and she was allowed to see the children as she pleased." Justin, who was standing beside me, grunted and began muttering colourful words under his breath. "But then does she really have a case?" I wondered out loud. "Meaning?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. "What I mean is.." I explained. "If she had joint custody, why not reach out before? She had the opportunity; there was no file against her rights. From what I see, she doesn't seem to be of a crowd less fortunate so there isn't any excuse for her not being here." Justin's eyebrows raised. "I guess you're right. She never did drop by before, that's definitely an asset." he said. "Interesting point, Selena." Daniel stated. "I'll take it up with Hughes when he gets here - see if we can get a case out of it." he said. "Sel?" Sophie's head peaked out from behind the door, her brown hair spilling down from her braid. "Can you come and watch a movie with me?" I glanced around the room before my eyes came to a rest on Justin. "Do you need me right now?" I asked him. Justin shook his head. "I think Soph needs you more, I'll come as well." he said. "Hold on a minute, Justin." Daniel objected. "There are things I need to talk over with you first." he said. Justin blew a strand of hair away from his eyes. "Fine but don't keep me too long." I couldn't help but smile; at least he was warming up a little to his Dad. Sophie tugged sharply on my sleeve. "Sel! We have to go!" I smiled down at her. "Alright, squirt, I'm coming." and as I ran upstairs alongside her, I hoped that everything would turn out for the best. Then maybe they'd all get the happily ever after they deserved. And that was the way things should be. - "I'll get it!" I called down the hall as I walked towards the doorbell. I quickly yanked it open before anyone could object. "Good afternoon." A twenty-something-year-old man greeted me; a very very good looking twenty-something-year-old man. But he had nothing on Justin. "Hi." I returned shyly. "Would you happen to be Mr Hughes?" the man beamed. "I believe you know of me, shame really, since I don't know who you are." I laughed and held out my hand. "Selena Gomez." Mr Hughes shook my hand. "It's very nice to meet you Miss Gomez, may I come in?" I blanched for a moment. "Oh, sorry! Of course." I stepped aside to let Mr Hughes in and led him down the hall into the living room where the Bieber family was currently residing. "I can always postpone it." Delia's voice offered. "Delia-" Daniel sighed. "No, Daniel." Delia stated firmly. "The children are more important. The wedding can wait." she said. "I don't want you to feel like-" Daniel started to speak up but was interrupted yet again. "I don't." Delia objected. "They're my family too now and I'm not putting them second." she added. Mr Hughes cleared his throat loudly and the two adult's heads turned in his direction. Daniel got up from his seat to shake his hand. "Ted." he greeted. "Thank you so much for coming." Mr Hughes nodded. "It's no problem, Daniel. Did I interrupt something?" Delia threw a glance at her fiancée and he hastily shook his head. "Of course not." There were a few more brief exchanges and introductions before the two men took a seat at the table and took out a file which I assumed was the custody battle warning. "Selena." Daniel looked up. "Would you do me a favour and fetch my children?" I nodded quickly and practically ran up the stairs and into the boy's room. I came bursting into the room but Brandon and Sophie seemed so absorbed in the movie that they didn't even notice. Justin however, was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "Your dad's lawyer is here." I breathed. Now that got their attention. Well.. not Sophie's, but you know, she's still a little kid. "Has he got a case yet?" Brandon asked eagerly. I rolled my eyes. "I wish. He just got here. Your Dad wants you guys downstairs." I said. - We were downstairs and gathered around the table in a flash. "Do you have records of her visits in the past two years?" Mr Hughes tapped his chin. "She didn't visit." Justin stated flatly and placed an arm around my waist. Mr Hughes's eyebrows rose. "Not once?" he asked. "Nope." Brandon testified. "That may help us." Mr Hughes muttered. "Do you have a maid, a cook, anyone who can prove that there were no accounts of her visiting?" he asked. "We have a cook." Brandon said, helpfully. "She's been here almost everyday for the past three years. She was there when Mum left in the first place, you can ask her." he said. "Fantastic." Mr Hughes clapped his hands together. "We'll have to get her statement and I can go through the rights of a joint custody agreement." he said. "Wait a second." Justin interrupted. "I meant to ask before but, since I'm eighteen, does she have any rights over me?" Mr Hughes frowned. "No, she doesn't legally but it would be helpful if you came to court as well, as the oldest, it may give us an upper hand as you're the most responsible." he said. "I didn't mean it like that." Justin assured him. "I just needed to know." Justin said. "Alright then." Mr Hughes stood up and brushed off his suit. "I'll look over the rights in the document and get back to you tomorrow." Daniel stood up too. "Thank you, Ted." Mr Hughes gave a small smile. "It's no problem." he said, and then he left. - "Wait, what?" Marie said in disbelief. Justin's arm tensed around my shoulders momentarily. "You heard me." said Justin. "No offence, dude." Renee ran a hand through her hair. "But your mother's a bitch." Justin laughed bitterly. "Believe me, I know." Marie, seeing Justin's expression, awkwardly cleared her throat. "So.. when's the court date?" I spooned some of my ice-cream (don't give me that look! I'm a stress eater okay?) "Twentieth." I said. "Renee's jaw dropped open. "That's the day of the battle of the bands competition!" she gasped. Oh, shit. "Great." Justin muttered. "I could pull some strings, I don't know I-" Renee started. "We could always drop out." Marie suggested casually. Renee stared at her."Are you okay?" Marie gave her a flat look. "Just listen, we haven't been able to do a hell of a lot of practice lately and there are two many things going on. It's no worth it." I glanced at Justin and he glanced back. "I guess you're right." I agreed finally. "So we're dropping out?" Renee spoke. I grimaced. "I'm really sorry Ren but-" Renee suddenly grinned. "Always so serious. It's cool with me." I gave her a wary smile. "You sure?" "Yeah." she shrugged. "Marie's right." I breathed a sigh of relief. How did I get so lucky? - "Selena, honey!" Mum called. "Nick wants to speak to you." she said. "Coming!" I shouted back. I glanced at Justin and he pulled me to him to plant a soft kiss on my lips before nodding in the direction of the door. I quickly ran out of the room and down the stairs to the living room where I mouthed a thank you to my mother before taking the phone out of her hands. "Nick." I exclaimed. "Sel!" he responded, amusement laced through his voice. "How are you doing?" he asked. "I'm fine." I shrugged. I could practically hear him frowning. "You sure? You seem less.. energetic then when I usually talk to you." I sighed. How he managed to read me through the phone was beyond me. "I have a bit of a problem but don't worry about it." I tell him. "You can tell me." Nick assured me. "I won't tell." I contemplated for a moment. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't do too much damage." I added. "So go on." Nick urged me on. "Tell me." he said. "Well-" I bit my lip. "Justin's Mum turned up and now she wants custody of them and I'm super worried about the whole thing and I don't know if everything's going to be okay and we only have like two weeks and Justin seems so upset and I don't know how to help him and God, Nick, I'm so worried. Every time I look at him, I feel like crying because he looks so sad and Brandon and Sophie are like family-" I sped through. "Whoa!" Nick interrupted. "Slow your roll for a moment and calm down." I sucked in a sharp breath. "Sorry." I could hear the blowing of breath on the other side of the phone. "It's alright. You must be in hell." I frowned. "More Justin than me really but I.. I don't really know what else to say." Nick chuckled lightly. "Looks like you're confused." he said. Huh? "What?" I asked. "About your feelings." he responded. "But- no I'm not." I objected. "Can I ask you something?" he didn't wait for my answer and continued talking. "Do you feel light when you're with Justin? Like you haven't got a care in the world? That you would do anything for him without hesitation?" he asked. My eyebrows pulled together. "Yeah.. but what has that got to do with anything?" Nick snorted. "You'll see soon enough." he replied. "I don't know what you're talking about!" I said. "No, you don't." he mused. "But you will soon." he added. "I sighed. "I really don't know what you're talking about." I say. "Not yet." I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I said. "Listen." he started. "I have to go. I'll talk to you soon." he says. "Alright then." I agreed. "Talk to you later." I put down the phone and went back upstairs where I found Justin staring into space on my beanbag chair. "Hey." I said softly. "You okay?" I ask. Justin broke his gaze. "Yeah." he said, but I think we both knew he wasn't. "You want to talk about it?" I asked cautiously. "Not really." he admitted then looked at me. "Would you come here?" I didn't even question it and went towards him. He pulled me down onto his lap, his arms wrapping around me tightly. I sighed and tipped my head back so it was lying on his chest and he pressed a brief kiss into my hair. We didn't say anything. We didn't need to. This was just him and me in this moment. That was all we needed. "Hey, Sel?" he said unsurely. "Everything's going to be okay, right?" he sounded so vulnerable; like a child worried. "Yeah." I managed to form out. "Everything's going to be just fine." I assure him. Right to my very core, I really hoped it would be.
