Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

setenta: custody

Court for her rape was done and over with, so it was unfortunate that they still had to deal with the custody case. Venus and Emiliano sat together at one table and DeShawn and his lawyer sat at the other table. The whole situation was uncomfortable for Venus, so she was sitting with her arms crossed with her sweater wrapped around her.

The judge was looking at all the paperwork to save the 2 lawyers from basically repeating everything they said in the rape case for weeks. After an agonizing 5-10 minutes, the judge looked up and closed the folder on his podium.

"Well, you've both been through traumatizing things with this case. Miss García, I'm sorry you had to go through all of this at such a young age. I can tell by all of this that you love your son very much." The judge said with his hands intertwined in front of him. "However, Mr. Carter is still the biological father and hasn't posed a threat to your son. Therefore, Mr. Carter, you have joint custody of Luis García-Lopez."

Venus sat up straight, looking up at her dad who was just as surprised. Emiliano stood up. "Your honor, this man has raped hundreds of children. You can't possibly be allowing him to see his child."

"Exactly, his child. If he poses no threat to a little boy, he can see him."

"And Venus has to go to the prison to visit him?" The judge nodded and glanced over to Venus who was holding her head and looking down at the table as she cried. Emiliano scoffed as the judge announced that the case was over.

DeShawn was pleased with the judge's ruling and turned to his lawyer with a big smile. While they did their bro-hug thing, Emiliano was hugging Venus and rubbing her back as she cried. Having your daughter raped was bad enough, but having to see her live with visiting her rapist for 15 years was more misery to add to it.

"Aye, Venus. Come visit me on Friday." DeShawn smiled.

Venus didn't bother looking up, but Emiliano was glaring over at DeShawn as the guards took him back. Venus and Emiliano stood there for few minutes, only the lawyer and the guard left with them. "For what it's worth, at least your son will have a father now."

Emiliano glared at DeShawn's lawyer and scoffed. "He's grown up perfectly fine without a father. Get the hell away from my daughter." DeShawn's lawyer was actually a lot like him in the sense that he smirked before walking away. "We'll figure something out, okay? I'm not letting you see him for the next 15 years. We'll try again."

× × ×

Two days passed a lot quicker than anyone would've liked. It was Friday and Luis sat in the backseat, unaware that Venus and Luciana were on their way to introduce him to his father. "Mamá, we getting food?"

Luciana turned to Venus, who had her head on the window and no energy to respond to him. "We're visiting someone first, amor." Luciana told him. Luis nodded and went back to swinging his legs and looking out of the window while Luciana reached over and grabbed Venus' hand. "Don't shut him out. This is all fucked up, and his dad's a piece of shit, but he still needs his mom." Luciana whispered, so Luis wouldn't hear.

Venus gave Luciana a soft smile and brought their intertwined hands up to kiss the back of her hand. "Mamá, I thirsty."

"Jugo o agua?" Venus held up 2 small bottles, and Luis looked bewteen them before pointing at the Capri Sun. Venus poked the straw in for him because last time he missed and ended up popping the entire bag. "Don't spill, papito."

Luis nodded and started drinking out if the juice pouch. Luciana pulled up to the gated prison and talked with the guards until she was allowed to drive in. "I hate prisons." Luciana sighed. Once the car was in park, Venus unbuckled her seatbelt and got out to get Luis out of his carseat.

"I hate judges."

"Those too." Luciana commented. "Let's just do an hour, then dip." Venus nodded and followed Luciana into the building while holding Luis' free hand.

Venus has never been to a prison before, but so far, it was making her feel weird. Or maybe it was just because of who she was visiting. Either way, prison was the last place she wanted to be at.

The trio sat at a table in the visiting area, and Venus felt some comfort since there were at least 7 other families. The gate opened and DeShawn walked in with a guard right behind him. However, since he was inside the prison, he didn't have to wear his cuffs; he was completely free as you can be in a prison.

With a wide smile on his face, DeShawn sat across from Venus who was holding Luis in her lap. Luciana was just glaring as everyone sat in silence. "Uh, papito, this is your dad." Venus voice was shaky as she spoke, and Luis looked up at her.

Luis turned back to DeShawn who was still smiling. "I don't want a dad. Scary."

DeShawn glanced to Venus in confusion as Luis stood up and turned around so he wasn't facing DeShawn. "Padres no son aterrador, papito. Abuelito no es aterrado."

"Papá scary." Luis whispered into her ear. He pulled back, nodding his head while DeShawn just watched them. He knew Venus was purposely ignoring him and speaking in Spanish because he couldn't understand, but he wouldn't say anything. Yet.

"Papá no era tu padre." Venus said. Venus remember all the times she promised Oscar that nothing would change that, but the second he laid his hands on Luis, those promises flew out of the window.

"You gonna let me talk to my son or just hog him?"

I seen that custody scene on Law&Order a while ago, and bitccjhhhhh