Rounds

Chapter 27

Coming from recess, Aidan was carrying Evan back in, kissing him on his face multiple times and Evan was laughing and smiling, Ivy was watching them as they made their way back to their seat with tears in her eyes, she looks away from them. "All rise," the guard says while the judge is making his way back to his chair, he bangs his gavel, "You may be seated, does any of the lawyers have anything t say before we hear from the jury?" Ivy's lawyer raises his hand, looking at Linda, "I will like to say something, your honor," "Proceed," the judge says, he comes out of his seat and goes to the very front of the court room in front of everyone, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pretty sure you're all wondering why so many people testified against my client Ivy, these people obviously don't want to see her a free woman, I think Aidan has his ways of taking care of his child, like drugs and killing people to get loads of money, I mean, that is the life style he use to do before Evan came in the picture," he says walking towards the jury looking at their faces, "Don't you think that's how he supports himself? Don't you think he may put Evan in danger? Think about it people, he was in a lot of trouble then, now what makes you think he's not in trouble with the law now?" He asks the jury, looking at Aidan, "Nothing further your honor," he says making his way back to his seat.

Aidan gets nervous again, Anything you have to say, Linda?" "Yes your honor," Linda gets up from her seat and whispers in Aidan's ear, "I got this," Linda makes her way to the front of the court room and takes a deep breath. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client Aidan has a lot to say, and he has a lot to prove you wrong," she turns to Ivy's lawyer, "Have you sat with your client in her home, trying to figure out what was going on and how you can help? Because I have," he slides down in his chair a little bit, Ivy hits his shoulder, "I've actually sat with my client trying to figure out how I could help, I have found evidence that his son actually wanted to be with him," she goes to her suitcase and pulls out a drawing, "This is when Evan drew a picture of him and his father, his father wasn't in is life because the mother was blackmailing him, if he didn't want to be with her, she wasn't going to let Evan see his father," the jury shakes their head, "My client has told me that this has never happened to him before, and Evan was his first and only son, why would a father want to abandon his first child, but it is documented that my client isn't the first she's done this too."

Some of the jury is in shock, "My client has been trying to see his son, he loves his son with all his heart, there even was a report of a fire while the baby was in their people! I think Evan is better off with my client, where he can live his life freely and not worry about when is the next time he'll get beat," Ivy rises from her seat with anger, "That's not true! That bitch is lying!" "Overruled! Sit down!" the judge says pointing his gavel at Ivy's seat, "But really people, think about if you had a crazy baby momma that way holding you from your child," Linda says, all of a sudden a young man stands up and says, "It's not a good feeling!" the whole court room turns and looks at him, he slowly sits down, Linda looks at the judge, "Nothing further your honor," she fixes her suit jacket and makes her way back to her seat. The whole room is quiet and their are eyes on the judge, he's whispering to the leader of the jury, the judge hands him the result papers and reads, "In former results of Ivy, inmate 2236749, child abuse, invading privacy, held custody selfishly, and murder, we find the defendant, GUILTY of all charges!" the court room starts roaring, "Order! ORDER IN THE COURT!" the room quiets down and goes silent, "In former results of Aidan, possession of drugs, grand theft auto, murder, gang activities, working government jobs illegally, and possession of fake Identification, we find the defendant NOT GUILTY!"

The crowd cheered, "ORDER IN THE COURT!" the room quiets down, "I've dropped all of those charges because you are a man now, that's stuff you did in high school, and I really hope you don't go back," the judge says with a smile on his face, "I declare custody of the child to Aidan, the rights to sue, and all possessions return back to the client, as for Ivy I sentence 44 years in prison, case dismissed," he says banging his gavel. Aidan and  Linda rise up at the same time, "You did it, you actually did it," "Well yeah," "How did you do that?" "I showed him the stuffed you were charged for when you were in high school and over 18, then I had a conference meeting with him and what you were going through, and he let you go because he saw good in you like I do." Aidan leans into Linda and kisses her again, "Thank you, thank you so much." As the trial was ending, the guards wad taking Ivy to the back, "How DARE you do this to me!! I thought you loved me Aidan, I thought we were family!" Aidan was standing there, holding Linda close to him and holding Evan on his arm, "He's still mine bitch, when I get out I'm coming for you!" Ivy looks at Evan, "Mommy loves you baby," Evan puts the middle finger up at her, her face was in shock.

As Ivy's last words echoed in the court room, Aidan was smiling at Linda, on their way out of the court room, the young man that made the out burst stopped them in their path, "Hey man, I know you don't know me, but I'm glad you stopped her," Aidan was confused and it finally came to him, "You're one of them, aren't you?" "Yeah man," tears came to the mans eyes and started to come down his face, "She killed my babygirl man, and tried to hide it from me and my family," Aidan's expression changed, "We tried looking for her but she got away, and as soon as I looked online and find out she was going to court, I just had to be here," Aidan was in shock, "That's crazy man, she almost killed mine too," the young man looks at Evan's face, "he's beautiful, man" "Thank you man," the young man shakes Aidan's hand and Aidan whispers, "Don't be down, I know that was your baby, but you can bounce back like I did," the young man smiles, "Thank you man, thank you so much," "No problem." Walking out of the court house made Aidan feel like a new man, he can do good without anyone trying to mess things up for him. He looked at the parking spot that Brian was in, he saw that his car was gone, not even Brian can touch him, and he'll never have to worry about him ever again.

At Aidan's house, there was a celebration, his mother was there, Linda was there, and of course Evan was there, even Kenny was there, it was no one else but them having a little get together. Food was cooked, drinks were made, and even dessert was fresh and ready to be eaten, Kenny and Evan was playing with Evan's toys, Nikki was watching over them and Linda and Aidan were sitting at the table together. Unexpectedly, Jada showed up and brung gifts for Evan and Aidan, "Thank you, Jada," "No problem," "No, I mean really, thank you, for you testifying and everything, that was really unexpected," "Oh no problem, she didn't need that baby to be with her anyway, she just wanted attention form you, and that ain't right," "Yeah I know, it wasn't a good feeling." Jada smiles and looks back at the door, "I hope you don't mind but, I brought Ivy's whole neighborhood over here," Aidan looked on the outside of his house, people started to cheer and clap their hands, he looks back and Jada, "We all care for that baby's safety, and the whole neighborhood knew that he wasn't safe." Aidan goes outside, high five some people, hug some people, dap some people up, he didn't know this many people cared. Aidan runs back inside, "Linda, we gotta cook more food, there's ALOT more people here," Linda smiles and gets up from the table.

As they were cooking, the house was full, and their were more babies that Evan and Kenny made friends with, everyone was socializing and laughing and even talking about Ivy in the mixed. Linda looks at Aidan cooking and remembered something, she goes to her brief case and pulled out a folder, "Aidan?" "Wassup?" "Did you figure out what you wanted to change Evan's name to???" Aidan stops chopping onions and washes his hands, he grabs the pen and signs "Aj" on the line, Linda is watching, "Why Aj??" "Aidan Junior," Aidan says with a smile, Linda smiles with him, he signs his signature on the dotted line below the paper, there and then it was final, "Hey Evan, come here," he runs to him, "This is your new name," "Aj??" "Yeah, buddy," "I love it daddy!" Aj gives Aidan a big hug, and goes right back to playing with the other babies. Linda and Aidan laughed, Aidan suddenly looks at Linda with a smile, "Linda," she looks up at him, "I know you like me, like, like like me, and sense you've been here for me," Aidan gets on one knee and takes out a tiny box, and opens it. It had a diamond filled necklace on the inside, "Will you be my girlfriend, and grow with me?" Linda was speechless, she was fanning her face and everyone in the house turned to look, "YES!" The whole house begins to roar in cheers and hand claps, they kiss and wave at everyone else. Kenny and Aj run up to their parent and hug their legs, Aidan picks Aj up and smiles, his mother looks at him clapping her hands with tears in her eyes and walks to him and holds Aidan, he hugs her with the biggest hug he can give her and kisses her on the forehead. Aidan knew then that the season of stress and confusion was over, he never felt something like this before, the struggles that happened to him constantly over and over again, he just didn't know what to do until Linda came in and changed his life. He was hoping that these rounds he played was worth it, and it was, he ended up getting what he wanted, finding his family, the love of his life and much more, "I'm glad I didn't give up," Aidan says looking up.