Daniel's POV
I tried to cover Riley's ears so she wouldn't hear her aunt, but I don't think it helped very much. The judge called for a break and I took Riley out of the court room and into a private conference room our lawyer said we could use. I need to calm down Riley but the only way I can do that is by putting her in little space. I stuck her pacifier in her mouth and bounced her on my hip until she stopped crying.
"Okay Ri, are you ready to go back in there?" I said trying to coax her into going knowing that she didn't have a choice.
"No! Don't wanna go back. Stay here!" Riley shouted
"Riley. We do not yell." I said firmly.
"We have to go back in there and finish today part of the trial. Then we can leave and go back to the hotel, okay?" I said packing all her "little space" things away.
Riley was still in little space but she was slowly getting out of it. I had Riley do a basic 24 piece puzzle to get her out of little space which worked after about 20 minutes.
*back in the court room* (still Daniel's POV)
"Apologies Mr. Jefferson and Miss Jones for the scare. Let the record show that Cathy Jones has been charged with Contempt of Court. If we have another outburst from Cathy or James they will be charged with with Contempt of Court again." The judge spoke.
"Now. Can we please have Riley Jones take the stand again." The judge spoke.
"Your honor may Mr. Jefferson sit with Riley at the stand. We would prefer to keep her comfortable." Our lawyer spoke.
"Is he wired?" The judge asked.
"Yes your honor."
"I'll allow it." The judge spoke.
I stood up with Riley on my hip and carried her to the stand. She hid her face in my chest while we walked past Cathy and James.
"Riley. You need to be brave and show your face to all these people." I coax at her as we sat down.
Thankfully she complied and sat forward with her back against me.
"Riley, do you like living with Daniel? How is it different living with him rather than your aunt and uncle?"
"I like it so much more with mommy and daddy. They make my nightmares go away and play with me. Auntie and uncle would hit me when I would wake them up and they never played with me." I could feel Riley getting sad.
I kissed the top of her head and wrapped my arms around her in an embrace. I could hear the awe's coming from the jury after our little exchange.
"Riley what would they hit you with?"
"They would hit me with a belt."
"Where?"
"My face or my tummy or my butt. One would hold me down on the floor while the other would hit me and then they would switch."
"Did they say anything to you that hurt your feelings."
"They told me that it was my fault my first mommy and daddy died. And that it should've been me. And....and that they will never love me. And....and that...they will keep...hitting me until I would stop crying......and when I wouldn't stop crying they would throw me outside." Riley said bawling.
This made my blood boil. I placed Riley against my chest with her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs around my torso. I hushed her as I bounced her lightly.
"Okay I think that's enough from Riley and Mr. Jefferson thank you." The judge said. I carried Riley back to our seats and continued to calm her down while the trial continued.
*Fast forward to end of trial*
"Okay thank you to both sides for presenting your case. We will turn it over to the jury now." The judge said dismissing us from the courtroom.
We left first. The we probably wouldn't know what the jury decided until tomorrow at the earliest so I decided we should go back to the hotel for now and wait for our lawyer to call us to come back.
Riley was snuggled into me as I carried her out. Now it was time for the dreaded race to the car. The press were outside waiting for us as they have been for the past 3 days. I decided to just ditch the plan of having Riley just hold my hand and would just carry her all the way to the car. My wife had gotten in the routine of picking us up so we didn't have to walk far.
The police men opened the doors to the outside and I held Riley's head down with one hand and used the other hand to hold her. I looked down as I walked to the car, Riley started to squirm from all the noise and flashes. I gripped her tighter as we got closer to the car.
"Keep your head down." I said as I opened the back door of the car and got in.
Closing the door my wife quickly drove off.
"Daddy can I look up now?" Riley asked with her head still down.
"Yes you can." I said as my wife drove out of the court.
Once we were back at the hotel I got Riley out of her court clothes and into some more comfortable for her to take a nap in.
"Daddy I'm not tired. I don't wanna take a nap." Riley whined as I placed the covers over her.
"Shhh you need to sleep Ri, your body is very tired." I said wiping her hair out of her face.
Because of everything that happened today in court it would be helpful for Riley to sleep some of it off, or at least try to. She was in little space for some of it while I was trying to calm her down after her Aunt went nuts.
Riley eventually fell asleep after tossing and turning a few times leaving just me and my wife awake in the room.
"How's she doing?" Abby asked.
"She's hanging in there. I don't know how much of what's going on she actually understands but that's probably for the best." I said laying next to my wife in our bed.
"Do you think they will be found guilty? Do we have anything to worry about?" Abby asked.
"I don't know. I feel like it was pretty obvious what happened, and Riley's aunt going off on her should be the nail in the coffin. I'm sure we will get a verdict tomorrow morning." I said cuddling my wife as we got ready to take a nap as well.
"Will we get to keep custody of her?"
"Well that's not for this judge to decide. The only way we'd lose custody is if they are found not guilty. I'm going to talk to Katie when we get back about taking steps in getting full custody." I said.
"Does Riley know?"
"I don't think Riley would understand. She's under the impression that we already have that so I'm not going to say anything unless we can't get it. No need to stress her out about something she won't understand. Let's go to sleep now Abs I'm exhausted." I said closing my eyes.
"Okay. I love you." Abby said snuggling into me.
"I love you too darling." I said squeezing her tight.
