JUSTIN 

I think if Daphne wouldn’t have pissed off the judge, she would have cheered Michael’s continued stupidity. I'm not a lawyer, but why did the man think Michael’s testimony was going to help his case? I held Brian down when Michael implied Brian would hurt Gus. 

“You know I could take Michael shark fishing, let him swim in the chum.” Drew tells Brian.

“I'm trying to understand why Calvin's here.” Emmett tells us. 

“Have you ever known Michael to do anything without someone to prop him up?” Ted asks us. 

“I wonder if they are seeing each other?” Emmett asks us. 

“We can live in hope that the two assholes live happily ever after.” Ryder tells us. 

“Let’s get back, Roberts isn’t going to be happy if there are any more delays.” Daphne tells us. 

We walk in and Frank is standing next to the door looking from it to his watch. Lindsay seems to think testing this judge is helping her. Jen comes in and pulls us to the side.

“She's out there telling the press how you and Justin are trying to keep her from Gus.” She tells us.

Frank runs out the door after hearing her. Jen smiles at us.

“I hope he likes trying to get her away. I left when they asked if it was awkward for the baby's father to only be five years older than her son.” She tells us. 

We sit down and wait for the judge to appear. When he does, only our side is waiting. Daphne shrugs at him, but is enjoying the problems they caused on their own. Frank comes in with a red faced Lindsay, apologizing for holding us up again.

“Mr Walls, it seems that your client thinks this is a game, not the place where we are deciding her son's future. If this is how you and your client are attempting to show that she can be responsible, it's not impressing me.” Roberts tells them. 

“The press wouldn’t let her through Your Honor.” Frank tells him. 

“Are you ready?” He asks, not happy with Frank.

“I'd like to call Melanie Marcus to the stand.” He tells him.

“Objection, she is my witness, and can be cross examined when she takes the stand.” Daphne tells Roberts. 

“Is there a reason you've added witnesses without informing us?” Roberts asks Frank.

“I wanted to question her motivation for appearing.” He tells him.

“Which you can do when she testifies for Mr Kinney.” He tells Frank. 

“Yes Your Honor, then I'll call Lindsay Peterson, sir.” He tells him.

Daphne scribbles a note to us.

“He’s worried, Michael came off as jealous. He probably thinks he could use Melanie to counteract Michael’s less than great performance.”   

Lindsay walks up holding her small bump and tries to play injured victim in front of the judge.

“Ms Peterson, can you tell us why you feel Mr Kinney shouldn't have custody of your son?” Frank asks her.

“Brian was always a good father, though distant. He never put anyone in front of his own needs, including Gus. I made up for his inadequacies as a father by loving my son enough that he didn’t miss his father not being there. Gus didn’t need to know that drinking and men were more important to Brian than he was.” She tells Roberts.

“It didn't bother you that Brian didn’t take a more active role in Gus’s life?” He asks her. 

“Of course, for my child's sake, but Brian wasn’t going to let having a child get in the way of his partying. He treated being a father as if it was a joke. I knew that Gus had me, so, like a divorced couple, I took care of my son, while Brian couldn’t be bothered.” She tells him. 

“He did start taking a bigger role eventually?” He asks her. 

“Yes, but I think Brian making Gus keep his new life a secret from me was not very responsible. I only found out about his marriage a few months ago. I wasn’t pleased to know that he brought someone into Gus’s life without making sure I knew the person.” She tells him. 

“When you found out, did Mr Kinney make any effort to introduce you to his new family? To give you a chance to know who was caring for your child?” He asks her. 

“He threw Michael and I out of his office, telling us it was none of our business who he married.” She tells him. 

“Did he give you any opportunity to talk about this huge change in Gus’s life?” He asks her.

“No. I only met Justin because Brian thinks just anybody should be in charge of our son. When I expressed my disapproval of Justin dropping off Gus, he told me to mind my own business and threatened me. It left me worried about Gus in their care.” She tells him. 

Frank stood for a minute like he didn't expect her to say that, but recovered to ask her about it.

“Justin Kinney threatened you?” He asks her.

“He let me know he'd take Gus if I bothered Brian with my concerns. I guess he's worried that Brian would listen to me.” She tells him. 

“Why would he worry about you and Brian speaking to each other?” He asks her. 

“In the past, Brian depended on Michael and I for everything. He trusted us to always give him advice when he made any major decisions, because he knew we'd alway protect him from someone who would use him. I think Justin knew that if he talked to us he could lose Brian.” She tells him. 

“Do you feel this custody case came about because of Justin Kinney?” He asks her.

“We are here, so I would say it proves he wanted to make good on his threat.” She tells him. 

“No further questions Your Honor.” Frank tells him.

Daphne stands and walks to Lindsay. She stood looking at Lindsay for a second before she began.

“In your testimony you stated that Brian was distant as a father?” She asks Lindsay.

“He wasn’t at my house changing diapers or feeding his son.” She tells her.

“It wasn't because you and Melanie Marcus didn’t want him over unless it was convenient for you?” She asks her. 

“They didn’t get along and it made it easier to not have them in the same house.” She tells her.

“So it's fair to say that he tried to respect your household when he didn’t come over, not that he was distant?” She asks her.

“Yes, but it shouldn't have mattered if he wanted to be a good father.” Lindsay tells her.

“You said Mr Kinney’s needs came before everything?” She asks her.

“Yes, I invited him to dinner one night so Mel, he, and I could talk about the situation, but he was out, only showing up after midnight. He didn’t care that everyone was asleep, just decided to see Gus at his convenience.” She tells me. 

“Isn’t it true that Mr Kinney did what ever you asked to be able to see his son? When you called him, he dropped whatever he was doing to be there?” She asks her.

“He watched him when I needed him to. He came to the hospital when Gus was ill.” She tells her.

“He also provided for any financial needs your household had for Gus, well above what any other father would do, isn't that correct?” Daphne asks her.

“Not always.” Lindsay tells her.

“Are you talking about when he blocked you from getting forty thousand dollars? What could Gus have needed that much money for?” She asks her.

“It was for a combination of things.” Lindsay squirms.

“I'm sure we'd love to hear why is was that you needed that amount of money.” Daphne tells her.

“I don’t really remember.” Lindsay tells her.

“Wasn’t that when you wanted to go to Europe with your parents? You weren’t thinking of Mr Kinney paying so you could stay in the expensive places your parents stay?” She asks her.

“Gus would have had an educational experience from the trip.” She tells her.

“Let's move on to when you showed up at Mr Kinney’s place of business to discuss his marriage. I would assume you and Mr Novotny came to congratulate him and welcome his husband to the family?” Daphne asks her.

“I couldn’t after Justin’s threats the night before.” She tells her.

“So Justin walked up to you, not knowing you and threatened you? Isn't what really happened that he told you that if you hurt Gus, he'd make sure Gus didn’t live with you? Not he was scared you'd take Brian from him?” Daphne asks her.

“I don’t remember.” She tells her.

“Yet you remember being threatened, but not why. Is there a reason you compared yourself and Mr Kinney to a divorced couple?” She asks Lindsay. 

“I just see our arrangement the way divorced couples do.” She tells her.

“How? Mr Kinney never loved you the way he would a spouse. He agreed to donate so you and your wife could have a child, once again, not as a loving partner. Could it be possible your feelings for Mr Kinney were more than his for you?” She asks Lindsay. 

“Are you going to answer?” Daphne asks. 

“We were close once.” Lindsay tells her. 

“A one night stand doesn’t imply closeness.” Daphne tells her.

“We moved on but remained friends, until recently.” Lindsay tells her.

“You stated that you feel that this case came about because of Justin’s issue with your friendship with Mr Kinney. Are you sure it had nothing to do with your son having to care for his sister because you were too busy arguing with Ms Marcus, and your son having to take on responsibilities he wasn’t emotionally ready for?” Daphne asks her.

“Gus made it sound worse than it was.” Lindsay tells her. 

“Did you know that Gus gave his sister a phone, one that he paid for out of his allowance and told her how to muffle the noise when you and Melanie got loud enough to scare Jenny Marcus?” She asks her.

“I found out he did that.” Lindsay tells her, tight lipped.

“You found out when Jenny ran away from the house and got lost, correct? Yet instead of calling her mothers, she called her thirteen year old brother?” She asks her.

“They are close and Jenny knew we'd be furious that she ran off.” Lindsay tells her.

“Furious? Most parents would be worried. Lindsay, do you feel a good parent takes her child with her when she wants to commit a crime?” Daphne asks her.

“No, of course not.” She tells her.

“Yet you were including Gus when you were planning to marry a man needing a green card.” She tells Lindsay. 

“I didn’t go through with it.” She tells her.

“If you had, weren’t you planning for the man to adopt your son? Making Gus part of your crime.” Daphne asks. 

“Ms Peterson, could you answer that?” Roberts asks.

“He wanted to make it believable.” Lindsay mumbles. 

“How often have you seen Gus since he's been in his father's custody?” Daphne asks. 

“I haven't, due to the press being everywhere.” She hisses.

“Didn’t you lie about how you became pregnant, which caused the press to be at your door?” Daphne asks. 

“It was a misunderstanding.” Lindsay tells her. 

“Your 'misunderstanding' has caused Mr Kinney to pull Gus into private tutoring. Gus had to deal with others teasing him and bullying him since you talked to the press. Do you really feel he needs to be in a home with you, when you're the reason for the additional stress in his life?” Daphne asks. 

“NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF BRIAN HADN’T BETRAYED ME WITH HIM.” Lindsay yells.

“No further questions.” Daphne tells Roberts. 

“NO. You're going to listen to me. I gave Brian everything and he left me with nothing. He isn’t getting Gus.” Lindsay tells Daphne.

“Why would it matter that Gus stays with Mr Kinney?” Roberts asks her. 

“Gus is the only way anyone sees me.” She tells him. 

“Your Honor, can we postpone this until I have time with my client.” Frank asks.

“Are you done calling your witnesses?” Roberts asks, watching Lindsay leave the stand.

“Yes.” He tells Roberts. 

“We are scheduled to hear Mr Kinney’s side tomorrow morning, we can reconvene ON TIME in the morning.” He tells us looking at Frank and Lindsay.