Bad Things Happen

Familiar Face!

Laurens ran inside immediately and handed Washington the letter.

"Oh my gosh." Washington stood up from his chair in shock.

"What is it?" Martha came over when she heard her husband.

"Laurens' father is trying to regain custody." Washington sighed.

Laurens dropped his backpack on the ground. "No, it can't be him. He hates me, he doesn't want anything to do with me."

"I'm afraid he does. He says he'll get a lawyer if we refuse." Washington stated.

"No, I'm not just going to let him have a free pass back into my life." Laurens protested. "Is there anything we can do?"

"We can take it to court. Hopefully the fact that he abandoned you will give us enough reason not to let him take you back." Washington worried.

"I promise, we'll do whatever we can." Martha reassured him. "Go change and we can discuss this when you're done."

Laurens ran upstairs into his room.

"What do we do?" Martha asked as soon as he was gone.

"We get our own lawyer." Washington stated before picking up the phone.

He made a few calls then put the phone down. Laurens came downstairs a minute later.

"We set up a date to meet in court. If we don't reach a peace we take it to a judge." Washington explained. "It's going to be alright."

Floods of memories filled Laurens' head of life with his father. His whole life was miserable because of that man.

"We go on Friday, I'll call the school and tell them to get a substitute teacher." Washington continued.

Laurens nodded and ran back upstairs to Alexander's room.

"Hey, can we talk?"

"Yeah, what's going on down there?" Alexander asked, since he had to leave the room before he could find out.

"My father, he wants me back and we don't know why."

"Oh my gosh." Alexander finally realized the just of it. "What are..." He trailed off.

"We go to court on Friday.."

"Good luck beating Washington. He has a great lawyer." This calmed Laurens down a little.

The week passed by quicker than John would have liked. He enjoyed his life, for the first time in many years he actually felt happy. It was Thursday day night. Lafayette and Alexander spent the night with Hercules Mulligan so he would drive them to school the next day. The dinner table was quiet for the first time. It was kinda weird.

"It's ok to be upset." Washington finally broke the awkward silence.

"Upset doesn't describe it." Laurens spoke up.

The rest of the dinner was also silent. When the time came, Laurens got up, went to bed, and tried to sleep.

"George come on." Martha shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Alright, are we ready to go?" Washington looked at a half asleep Laurens. "Bad night?"

John nodded.

They got in the car and drove to the court house. Washington's lawyer was waiting there for them.

"Good to see you again George." The man said.

"Mr. Roberts, thank you for helping us." Washington said.

"Well you don't pay me for nothing, it's the least I could do for my favorite client." Mr. Roberts replied.

Washington and Roberts had known each other for a while, they were friends back when Roberts was in law school.

"This must be John Laurens I assume." Roberts guessed gesturing to John. "Ted Roberts."

Laurens shook his hand and smiled.

"Follow me if you will." Roberts said before walking down a hall. "Almost everyone is already here."

He stopped at a door and opened it to reveal what seemed to be another man, and another lawyer.

"We're just missing Mr. Laurens." He stated. "Mr. Henry Laurens, I mean."

They all sat down and ordered some lunch. Everybody stopped as the door click open a few minutes later.

"Sorry to be the last one here." Henry walked in. He paused when he saw Laurens. "Wow, Jack. You're so big."

"Please have a seat Mr. Laurens so we can begin." One of the men said.

Laurens was speechless, a face he had hoped to forget walked through that door. He sat down and also ordered some lunch while everyone began to talk.

"Mr. Laurens, you claim that you at the time were not ready to take care of a child, which is why you left him?" The man asked.

"Yes, I was only seventeen when my wife and I ran away and eloped, and that same year she got pregnant." H. Laurens defended himself. "When I gave him up, I always planned on coming back when I was ready. And now that I have a steady job and a stable income, I want to take care of him again and be a family."

The man was taking notes as H. Laurens spoke.

"Mr. Washington, you took in Mr. J. Laurens when he was placed into foster care?"

"Yes, he has been with us since August." Washington answered.

After a some more discussion, the man asked everyone to leave the room except for John Laurens.

"Now I know this might be confusing, but do you understand what's happening?" The man asked.

"Yes." Laurens answered, knowing that everything was being recorded so he couldn't nod. (Learned that the hard way.)

"Can you tell me what happened the day your father left you?" The man questioned.

"My father told me to grab some of my things and to get in his truck." He started to tear up. "Then we reached a street corner. He told me to talk to the man inside and that he would take care of me. Then he drove off."

"Can you tell me what happened to first day you moved in with the Washingtons?"

He continued to ask a few more questions, then called everyone back in.

"Unless you wish to take it up to a judge, I find that Mr. Laurens is suited to take John." The man answered.

"Then I guess we take it to a judge." Washington glared at the Henry who smirked right back at him.

"Ok. John, would you come with me?" The man asked.

"Why?" Laurens answered confused.

"I'm afraid until we get this situation worked out that you can not stay with the Washingtons anymore." The man spoke.

"Oh." Laurens nodded. He looked back over at George and Martha before he followed the man out the door.

A/N: I don't know how a Judge would actually decide on a thing like that. I've never been in a situation like this. But for the sake of drama, Henry Laurens wins!