It was cold a little while ago, but now I’m hot. I’m sweating, in fact, because I’m scared. Now I’m nervous, I’m officially nervous. We were doing so great. Ayden went up on the stand and told everyone how much she misses her father. Crazy Amber went up and looked like a complete crack head fool. Even I went up and managed to actually do a good job. But none of that matters.

         The jury knows any little girl wants to go back to the people she knows. They know I want Ayden back but she’s not my daughter so it doesn’t do too much good. There is no possible way Amber will get custody of Ayden, but will Justin?

         That’s not a definite. In fact there’s a very good chance they’ll find neither of the parents to be fit and she’ll go back to that foster home. That can’t happen. It shouldn’t happen. I need to convince myself that it won’t happen. Justin has been trained for countless hours about how to answer questions and keep his temper in check. I can’t even express how much I need him to do that.

         “Justin Timberlake.”

         I took a deep breath as Justin walked up to the stand. He’s tense; he’s definitely not in his charming Justin mode like he’s in when he’s on television or doing an interview. This is the one time in his life that he needs to put that fake charming persona on but he’s tense and pissed off and honestly he looks a little evil.

         After he was sworn in his eyes were bouncing all over the room. He needs to fucking focus!

         “Mr. Timberlake, when did you first become aware that you had a daughter?”

         Justin didn’t answer right away; instead he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What is wrong with him? His mother looks worried, she probably should be. He needs to look at his mother so she can calm him down with a look, I’m sure she can do that. She can do anything she’s like Super Mom.

         “I uh…” he began, running his hands through his hair and licking his lips before finally turning his gaze to the lawyer. There was a definite shift, he sat up straight like he just realized for the first time he better be the charming Justin Timberlake so he can get his daughter back. “Amber showed up at my door with an eight month old Ayden and told me she was mine.”

         “Then what happened?”

         “She told me she was going to sell her story and put Ayden up for adoption because having a kid wasn’t easy. Amber didn’t realize she wouldn’t be able to go out partying or drinking every night when there’s a crying kid in the other room.”

         “What did you do?”

         “I told her I didn’t want my kid to grow up in a foster home and I’d take her in.”

         “So that was it?”

         “Hardly,” Justin added with a chuckle, “We sat down with my lawyers and gave her seven million dollars so she wouldn’t sell the story.”

         They lawyers handed the judge the official paperwork everyone signed before continuing, “How did you meet Amber?”

         “It was after a show, at a club I would assume.”

         “Is it safe to say it was a one night stand?”

         “Yes, I never heard from her again until she showed up at my door.”

         The questioning continued with Justin’s lawyer setting the record straight for everyone in the courtroom. . This is the easy part, when Amber’s lawyer comes up it’s going to be tough. I’m surprised she has such a good lawyer, but I guess selling your daughter for seven million dollars pays for pretty good lawyers.

         “Mr. Timberlake, why did you hide your daughter?” good fucking question. I’ve been trying to figure that out since that day Amber dropped her off at the door.

         “To protect her,” he answered right away, as if there was no other possible reason why he was doing it. “I’m in a business where everything I do is looked at and judged. I mean, you can tell that by the crowd of people outside. These are things I have to deal with every day of my life and I don’t want my daughter involved in that. I can’t have her involved in that. I don’t want people taking her picture or trying to get all close to her. It’s scary for me, never mind how scary it is for a three year old.”

         Good answer. He’s going well.

         “So you hid her and when magazines found out you pretended she was your assistant’s daughter.”

         Justin licked his lips and looked at me before speaking, “I was advised to do that, I thought it would protect her. I didn’t see the harm in it as a temporary solution as we figured out a way to keep Ayden out of the spotlight.”

         “According to the police report from the day Ayden was taken to the foster home, Ayden was screaming for Sari, your assistant instead of you, her father.”

         “Ayden and Sari have been close since the day I got her. Sari’s a natural comforter; she’s Ayden’s mother figure. I don’t know why that’s a bad thing.”

         “It’s a bad thing Mr. Timberlake because she’s your daughter, not Sari’s daughter.”

         “I understand that,” Justin answered strongly, “I mean, if that were me when I was a kid I would have cried for my mother instead of my father.”

         “Because she’s your mother. Sari is not Ayden’s mother.”

         “She’s the closest thing she has to a mother. Why is that such an issue? We want Ayden to come home to Sari and me.  I’m not trying to take her away from Sari. Amber is trying to take her away from Sari and me. We’re a package deal. So what if Ayden calls for Sari once in awhile. I guarantee she’ll call for me before Amber, and that’s the real issue isn’t it?”

         “Also according to police reports,” the man continued quickly. Justin’s answer actually makes sense and he’s getting worried so he wants to change the subject. “When Ayden was taken away you didn’t even say goodbye to her. Your assistant said goodbye and told Ayden that she loved her and you did not.”

         “You took my kid away, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.” Justin’s getting upset again, he needs to calm down and make sure his temper doesn’t break through.  “Look man, the issue is not if I said goodbye when I couldn’t even see straight because my daughter was literally taken away from me. The issue is if I’m a good enough father to take care of my three and a half year old daughter that I’ve been taking care of for three years. I’m not trying to say I’m the best damn father in the world. I need help with her and I have problems sometimes but I get help. I have Sari, who is the best possible person to have in Ayden’s life. She takes care of her, she lies to me so she can sneak off and see Ayden because she worries about her so much.  She’s the only person in the world that understands what I was going through because she was going through it right there with me. So what if she’s not Ayden’s mother? Are you trying to tell me that Amber is more of Ayden’s mother just because she gave birth to her? The facts are simple. Amber showed up at my house and just left Ayden, without a second thought. She never turned back; she never called to see how she was. She never gave a shit and she still doesn’t. It’s absolutely ridiculous that anyone thinks for even a second that Amber should get to even see Ayden. She wanted nothing to do with my daughter; she should have nothing to do with her. This is a kid we’re talking about, it’s not a dog or teddy bear. She’s a living, breathing, adorable three year old. She doesn’t deserve to be in a foster home because the lady that gave birth to her wants her fifteen minutes of fame. It’s unbelievable that it even got this far. We need to just end this, give me my kid back, and let everything go back to the way it was.”

         That was the end of the questioning. Justin is a little shook up as he walked back to his seat and the court went to their final recess so they could actually decided the case.

         “You did really good. I’m proud of you.” I said as Justin sat down next to me.

         “You’re proud of me?” he asked with a chuckle as he rubbed his eyes.

         “I am, you did a good job.  You managed to control your temper, you had me worried.”

         He laughed and rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry. We’re good.”

         It didn’t take anywhere near as long as I thought it would for everyone to come back out with the verdict. I can’t even explain the feeling when they said Justin got full custody and Amber had absolutely no rights and needed to stay the hell away from Ayden and Justin. Deep down I knew that we’d get her back, but when the judge actually said it and Ayden was actually back in Justin’s arms it was honestly the best moment of my life.

         We went right back to the house and started baking cookies for the tea party. “I wanna put in a lot a lotta chocolate chips, k?” Ayden asked as she grabbed handfuls of chips and dumped them in the cookie dough.

         “As many as you want Ayden,” Justin smiled as he watched her dumping them in.

         “Oh, I can’t wait! They’re gonna be yummy cause we like extra chocolate. Huh Daddy?”

         “I love the chocolate chips!” Justin smiled and kissed his daughter’s forehead. This is the way it’s supposed to be and I really think he’s learned his lesson and he’s actually going to keep it up.

         “Me too!” Ayden giggled as I placed the greased pan in front of them and sat down, “I memba how to do it Sari! First you gotta make a bally and then you put it on the pan like this!” she said as she dropped the ball on the pan.

         “Perfect!” I smiled, “You still remember. You’re so smart.”

         “I am smart. Daddy, did you know a cock-a-roach can live for nine days without its head?”

         “No way! Really?” Justin asked as he rolled his own cookie, “Do you think you could live without your head for nine days?”

         “Oh yeah, uh huh.”

         “No you could not,” Justin laughed.

         “Yes suh!” Ayden giggled, “Ok, how about six days.”

         “I don’t think so Ayden.”

         I’m just going to sit back and take this all in. I feel like this is another one of my dreams, I need someone to pinch me. Ayden is actually home and she’s not going anywhere. Justin is sitting here making cookies and being silly with her, he’s not even for a second getting annoyed or being the slightest bit of an asshole.

         “Sarrrri!” Ayden called my name and woke me from my thoughts, “How come you’re not workin? We need help.”

         “Sorry,” I laughed as I grabbed some dough in my hand.

         Justin smiled at me while Ayden went back to the dough, “Are you crying?”

         “No.” I shook my head; I’m so bad at hiding this stuff.

         “Yes you are,” he laughed slightly, “you’re always randomly crying.”

         “Shut up,” I rolled my eyes.

         I’ve never had that much fun having a tea party with both Ayden and Justin. In fact, I’ve never even had a tea party with Justin. I’ve had plenty of tea parties with Ayden but Justin’s always been somewhere else. We decided to have a sleepover after the tea party since it was already late and I did promise her we’d have a sleepover before they took her.  We set out all the blankets and watched Monster’s Inc. but Ayden was asleep before we were even halfway through the movie.

         I lay on the ground with Ayden sleeping soundly between Justin and myself. Justin looked at his daughter before whispering, “Is she asleep already?”

         “Yeah, she’s out.” I answered as I watched her sleeping soundly. I really missed her; I can’t believe she’s back. “Do you want me to take her back to my place?”

         “No,” Justin answered quickly with a laugh, “She’s staying here.”

         “Yeah but, I mean she should have a bed.”

         “She has a bed here, but she’s fine.”

         “Come on Justin,” I whined, “I’ll take her, it’s not a big deal.”

         “It is a big deal. She’s staying here. You can go back if you want.”

         “I’m staying with her.”

         Justin laughed, “So am I, so we’re stuck here then.”

         “Fine, I don’t care, I’ll stay here.”

         “Fine. Stay here.” He answered with a smile as he sat up against the couch.

         “Fine.” I said as I sat up next to him.

Justin slapped my leg gently, “So we got her back.”

“Yeah, we got her back,” I smiled before Justin placed his arm around me, “This is so awkward,” I answered honestly, although I probably should have kept that to myself.

“You’re awkward,” he chuckled as he grabbed the remote with his other hand, “Relax. Let’s watch something else. ”