Only Time Will Tell

Custody

Veronica's POV

Christopher slept over, obviously not in Nessa's room but I could tell he really wanted to help out, he was worried about Mikey and that was all I cared about.

I called in for Nessa and said she needed the day off for family reasons and they allowed it so after telling her I went downstairs and made myself breakfast.

"Contacts, activate" I ordered as I took a spoon of cornflakes and waited for the virtual screen to appear in front of me, I swiped through emails and messages until everything was cleared, "deactivate" I ordered as the screen faded into nothing.

"Today's agenda?" I asked as the fridge began explaining what I had put on my list last night.

"Work in 20 minutes" the robot voice called out,
"Call potential lawyers" it read as I heard the stairs buzzing on and footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Hey" Christopher smiled as I nodded and handed him a bowl and pointed towards the cupboard for the cereal.

"How's Nessa?" I asked as he picked up a photo of me, Nessa and Mikey at the zoo back in 2012 when he was 3 years old, "she's coping" he sighed, pouring the lactose free milk into his bowl,

"I think she needs a break, I can take Michael for as long as needed, moms letting him paint the guest room whatever colour he wants, dads setting the garden up again so h-ball is playable again" Christopher began but I had to stop him.

"Don't get your hopes up yet, for my sake. This is all up to Nessa and she could chose to fight for custody" I shrugged, placing my dishes into the steamer as they cleaned themselves and then put themselves away,

"I know" he sighed, picking back up the photo frame and gazing at our happy faces. I was happy to be away from school, Mikey had never seen an actual elephant before and Nessa was just glad he wasn't crying. "That was the day before-"

"Yeah I remember" he interrupted, knowing I didn't want to finish the sentence, "you should go back to college Roni, you could have done so much more"

"Nessa needed me" I replied, picking up my bag and leaving out the front door.

Christopher's POV

Veronica left out the front door leaving me alone with Nessa asleep upstairs and Michael downstairs.

I stepped into the living room and found the tapes Mikey always talked about, something Nessa used to love making, she would film them on her Grandpa's old video recorder and store them in the film, obsessing over the past and how they used technology.

I picked out the first one and popped it into the drive allowing the old dusty tv to turn on and immediately start playing the recording.

2011 'Mikey's first Tricycle'

"Say hiya to the camera Mikey" Vanessa laughed as Mikey squinted his eyes to smile wildly at the lens of the camera, is two front teeth dominating his wide smile, "hiya" he repeated, pushing his legs from the ground as the tricycle hovered only several inches above the ground.

She filmed him coming back and forth for about 7 straight minutes until he grew bored and began bouncing around the place.

"Wha that?" He exhaled, fogging up the camera lens as his face grew closer to the camera, Nessa's perfect laugh could be heard as she pulled the heavy camera back and showed him what it was, "Can you say Camera?" She asked slowly,

"Camwa" he whispered, distracted by his fascination.

The screen went blank and flickered back on to reveal Mikey riding the tricycle again but this time somebody else was holding the camera and Nessa was holding Mikey for support.

"Smile at Grandpa" she said, pointing at Paul who sat behind the camera as Mikey squeezed his face into a tight smile and waved innocently at the camera.

There were balloons in the background saying 'Happy Birthday' and '17' on them and Roni was leaning against the wall scrolling through her phone, busy with school work, never catching a break.

The camera moved away from Nessa and Mikey and directed towards Roni who stood in frustration as she tempted to break through a security wall but her coding wasn't strong enough, "Veronica join in on the fun" Paul sighed, "your sister's leaving tomorrow" Veronica rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as Paul handed her the camera and made his way over to Mikey and picked him up and directed him over towards the camera.

"Michael when you're older I want you to know that your auntie does actually love you" he laughed as Veronica impatiently handed Vanessa back the camera, storming inside in frustration.

-

I switched off the VHS knowing that I would arrive any second and it would not go down so well. I continued to flick through the titles until I found one that interested me.

2012- Mikey's Goodbyes

The screen flickered on and a young Mikey appeared on camera sitting in a stroller and waving his hand, smiling from cheek to cheek. It then flicked to another clip of him doing the same thing but dressed differently, as the clips passed the scenery became more and more familiar.

Mikey stood outside my house, waving goodbye to Vanessa as she left him for the night, most clips he had tears streaming down his face but continued to wave for the sole purpose of the camera.

The mini clips aged all the way up to only a year ago until the screen went blank once more

-

"You shouldn't be watching those" Vanessa's voice said from behind me causing me to jump and drop the tape on the ground, I bent down to pick it up and accidentally stepped on it, crushing the casing and ripping the film.

"And that's why" she laughed awkwardly, picking up the destroyed tape and throwing it in the bin,

"Sorry" I apologized, scratching the back of my head while she poured herself some coffee.

"Christopher I've been thinking" she began as she poured her coffee, taking a deep breath in, "I want to fight you for full custody of Michael and I'm going to win"

(Sorry I haven't updated in a WHILE!❤️ Happy new Year! I hope 2019 goes well for everyone💜 thanks for reading!)