Intrigue

Alexa's POV

I scanned the ice looking for him to let him know I was there. I caught his eye as he skated back from taking a shot and he gave me a small smile. He still wore the look of worry, with a subtle hint of fear in his eyes. He changed sides on the ice, raising his glove up to touch the glass where I stood. I followed and placed my hand against the glass and he gave me a bigger, more relaxed smile. It was something he did every home game I was at and he swore it was good luck. Hockey players and their superstitions.

The teenage girl in the seat near me screeched as he skated away and I had to laugh. “Oh my God, you know him?” she asked, the giggly girl beside her wide-eyed.

“Yeah, he is a really nice guy” I responded, trying to take myself out of the conversation. They started to ignore me, which was great and then Sharpy skated by.

“Hey buttercup” he yelled loud enough for me to hear. I stuck my tongue out at him. “Your boyfriend better have at least 2 points tonight or I am blaming you.” The girls tortured me for the rest of the game, asking me a million questions. The guys played ok and managed to squeak away with a 3-2 win over Vancouver.

I headed down to the locker room area and laid across a sofa, stretching out. Kaner came out half-dressed looking for someone and jumped on me. I knocked him off and got up. He gave me a hug. “Alexa you are awesome.” He said kissing my cheek. "He is lucky you are so understanding.” He said quietly with his arms still wrapped around me.

Brent came out and hollered “Kaner, stop flirting, I’m not giving her up.” I cracked up.

The guys wanted to go out for drinks. I had work early the next morning, but I urged Brent to go. “Have fun baby, you need it.” I drove home and showered, happy he had his boys to hang out with. I fell asleep not long after the shower.

A few hours later I heard him stumbling into the door. He made his way to the bed and I could smell the alcohol on him. “Hey baby, have fun?” I asked.

“Sharpy is the devil babe” and promptly passed out. I took off his shoes and covered him. I laid back down and fell asleep after a few minutes.

The next morning when my alarm went off at the lovely hour of six o'clock I woke up to an empty bed. I looked in the bathroom and it was empty. I finally found him sleeping at the kitchen table.

I woke him up and he groaned. “Remind me not to drink like that anymore. I feel like I may die. Glad we aren’t leaving until tomorrow. “ He had a four day road trip and was going to be gone until Saturday, when he flew back into Chicago.

I was a little upset I couldn’t be there for him when he got the news from Child Protective Servies. I knew he would need some support either way. I handed him a bottle of water and some aspirin and went and got dressed. “Ill meet you for lunch babe. I should be alive by then.” He said, kissing me on the forehead.

I smiled at him as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Can you meet me at the courthouse instead. I have a Motion to Suppress I need to argue at 11:00 am, but I should be done at 12:00." He barely managed an “ok” before he got up and ran for the bathroom.

I got to work by seven o’clock and worked on some of my smaller cases. I had a ton of little hearings this month, minor violations of parolees and quite a few misdemeanor cases aside from the two larger trials. By the time I looked up from my computer, it was quarter of eleven and I needed to leave for the courthouse.

Brent’s POV

The morning was horrendous, but I forced myself out of bed and into the shower by ten o'clock. I wanted to make it to court so I could actually see her in action. I was curious to see it because she wasn’t very aggressive in person. I couldn’t see her being like that at all. I knew she was a take-charge type of person though. I had seen that first-hand the other day.

I threw on a suit because I didn’t want to look out of place in the courtroom. Besides, I figured we could go somewhere nice for lunch if she had the time. I sat down towards the back so I didn’t distract her. I knew she didn’t see me and I preferred it that way. The attorney who filed the motion presented it to the judge.

Once it was her turn to speak I seriously was in awe. She tore the motion apart, citing cases that were relevant and in her favor. It was a simple motion, one where the other attorney wanted a breathalyzer test results thrown out, but you would have never known it. The poor guy looked stunned and I remembered she was kind of new to this area of law. I don’t think he expected her to be that good.

Watching her work drove me wild. I could hardly contain my excitement. It took all the strength in me to not want to go up and grab her. I couldn’t believe how good she was at her job. She exuded confidence and I could tell the judge was even in awe. He granted her motion quickly and the older lawyer sitting next to her patted her on the back.

She walked towards the exit and realized I was sitting there. “Hey you, see you made it out alive. What are you doing here?”

I just laughed. “I wanted to see you work.”

The older attorney approached. “Hey Alan, this is my boyfriend Brent.” She looked at me. “Brent, this is Alan Marshall, Assistant DA.” We talked hockey for a few minutes before he bid us farewell.

“So where do you want to go for lunch?” I asked.

“Well, since my hearing is over we can go anywhere honestly. I can work from home later on, I really don’t need to go back to the office.” I smiled and knew I was having dessert before lunch for sure. We did end up making lunch together two hours later. As we were finishing eating, my cell phone rang. I seen the number and my heart raced out of control.

“Hi Mrs. Williams. How are you? Yes, we can be there in an hour, thanks.” She grabbed my hand and held it.

“Ready for this honey?” I asked her.

She smiled and got up. “Let’s find out our future dear.” I said pulling her closer to me. The ten minute drive was nerve-racking. I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking and she kept running her fingers through her hair. We parked the car and stood outside the building for a good five minutes.

“Ughh, I can’t handle this anymore” she said wrapping her arms around my waist. She looked like a teenager, smiling up at me. “No matter what Brent, we will get through this. Come on, let’s go.”

Mrs. Williams met us at the door and walked us toward her office. Once we sat down she spoke. “So Brent, I am happy to let you know that Madison is your daughter. We can get started on the paperwork today and hopefully she can be in your custody within the next five days or so. I am filing the paperwork today. Now I warn you, before they will approve permanent custody there will be house visits and such. So if you can give me your schedule regarding when you are in town, I can get the first scheduled and out of the way.” I let out a breath. It was so much to take in. I signed paper after paper as Alex reviewed them.

We scheduled the house visit for the next day and Alex would work from home. I didn’t want to delay the process any longer. “So you know they will be checking to make sure the space is sufficient and the child will have a space of their own and everything. She can sleep in your room, just have somewhere set up for when she grows and needs a bigger space.

Alex and I walked hand in hand out the door. “Ok Daddy, so it looks like we need to go shopping.” She said to me as we headed towards the car.

Notes

:) Gonna be interesting....