Barclay Davis - Angela, Preparing For Battle
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Art by Scopedog |
Ever since she moved in with Max, Frida has enjoyed some piece of mind. She was with a man she truly loves and is devoted to. And Max was willing to do anything to see to it Frida is loved and looked after.
But there was a reason for all that. And why her happiness, and everything else, looks as if it may be hanging by a thread...Angela.
Frida's life was turned upside down the moment Archie Sanders got a judge/friend of the family to give him sole custody of the three year old girl they both conceived. He then went and took Angela with him, from her sitter's place, without giving Frida the chance to say goodbye. Frida nearly lost her mind over it, and Max needed to do whatever was necessary to keep Frida sane and happy, as he finally admitted his love for her. Going so far as to have her move in with him so that she wouldn't be surrounded by things that reminded her of Angela.
And while he loved having Frida with him, Max is concerned her happiness and even her sanity is tenuous. Sanders has made certain Frida never has any type of contact with her daughter, even going so far as to slap a 50 foot restraining order on her. The only hope they have is to challenge Sanders in court for full custody rights to Angela.
To that end, Frida and Max have in their corner Gloria's cousin, Isadore "Izzy" Feinberg, representing them as their lawyer, having graduated at the top of his class and just recently passing the bar. Young and full of hope and optimism, Izzy was ready to go to war for Frida, in his very first case.
But Max was concerned about what Sanders will bring to court. With Archie being an heir to the wealthiest and most prominent of families in the state and region, Max wondered what tricks he and his family would try to pull in order to keep Angela.
But all that wondering matters not, as the custody case for Angela is coming up hard and fast.
***
Max and Frida are sitting in Izzy's office, which is conveniently located on Barclay Avenue, not too far from Danforth High. He's laying out all the pre trial info to both of them, and is being up front about it.
"Thiiiiis is not looking good!" Izzy tells both Max and Frida.
"What do you mean?" Frida asks.
"Sanders' family has already brought in a big hitter to represent Archie in your upcoming custody case." Izzy says, as he turns his desktop monitor around to show Max and Frida. "This is Tyrone Armstrong. A top notch lawyer with a photographic memory of the law. He wins more than ninety percent of his cases."
"So? Big whoop!" Max says, trying not to sound scared. "How much of a problem can he be? What exactly are his credentials?"
"Oh, not a whole lot." Izzy says, kind of sarcastically "Just some schlub who managed to finish top of his class from some small law school known as..." Izzy then picks up a piece of paper, looks at it, then looks at Max and says "...Harvard!"
Max's response to that:
"Not a whole lot." Izzy tells Frida. "But the cases he's tried for his clients, he's been successful." Frida's anxiety levels rose a bit when hearing that.
Izzy continues. "But it gets worse. This will be the judge presiding over your case: Ezekiel Stone. Considered a far right justice with a judgmental streak in him. Any cases where one party seems slightly amoral ends up losing. So we have to make sure that we have everything out in the open, in order to make our case to this judge. So Frida, might you have anything in your past that could be used against you?"
Frida didn't say a word. She was trying to take in what Izzy had told her and Max. She then said, "I...I don't know."
"Well think long and hard about this, Frida. Any stone unturned could cost you your daughter."
Frida didn't like hearing that.
***
On their way back home, Max asks Frida if she's all right.
"I don't know." Frida responds. "I'm still taking all this in. All that Izzy told us has me worried, Max. It's as if we're preparing ourselves to eventually lose."
"Don't worry about that, Frida. Once this judge finds out how big a dirtbag Archie Sanders is, he'll literally hand Angela to you!" Max tells her confidently. But deep down, Max is worried that the big money Sanders has in his legal corner will overwhelm and smother both Frida and Izzy. Still, Max tries to keep a positive façade for Frida, as her worries and anxieties might end up consuming her to the point of no return.
"Besides," Max says as he turns his head to look at Frida, and continues in his positive façade, "It's not as if YOU have anything to hide, Frida.😉😁"
Frida just smiles and laughs a bit at Max. But Frida's mind was all over the place. Something was bothering her, and she didn't want to tell Max what it was.
***
The next couple of days had Frida's anxiety levels rising. She didn't say anything to Max, or anyone else. Frida knew she had to deal with what was bothering her, but she didn't want anyone to know what it was.
Eventually, Frida took the time, when she wasn't teaching a class but Max was, to drive back out to Izzy's office for a private one on one.
Izzy was surprised to see Frida come to his office, alone and unannounced. "Was there something you wanted, Frida?" he asks her.
"Yes." Frida tells him. "There's something I need to tell you." She then goes in Izzy's office and closes the door behind her.
***
The day of Angela's custody case has arrived. And there's tension in the air.
Max and Frida show up, looking like a power couple. Max is wearing a royal blue suit and pants with a white shirt and black tie. Frida is wearing a royal blue jacket and dress, and is wearing a light white turtle neck shirt underneath her jacket. Her hair is all done up to give her a serious look. Izzy Feinberg is accompanying them as Frida's lawyer in her case. Victor also shows up, perched on Max's shoulder. He's on his best behavior, for obvious reasons.
The Gang showed up to give them support. Mitch and Paul, Pete and Carol, Bob and Shontel, Sam, his brother Mo and Mo's wife Jasmine, and Al and Gloria. Also accompanying them were Frida's old foster parents, Marie and Gerald Webster. They and Max all plan on sitting behind Frida and Izzy to give them support.
They enter the courthouse and are in the lobby area, where they all see Archie Sanders, dressed in a navy blue suit with a bright red tie, and his own entourage, consisting of his lawyer, Tyrone Armstrong, as well as his mother and father, his fiancé, Gia Gagliardi, and of course, Angela.
When Frida saw Angela, her heart raced. She sees her daughter with a sad look on her face, and wonders what she was going through, living with Archie.
When Archie sees Frida and her friends, he starts turning on the louse offensive and walks up to them.
"Don't think that you can go up and see my daughter with that restraining order still on ya, ya skank!" Archie fires off at Frida.
"What have you been doing to my daughter, you asshole?" Frida angrily responds to Archie. "If you've been laying a finger on her, I'll..."
"Nothin' but enforcing my parental authority on my daughter!" Archie said. "And because of my firm hand, she's never been more well behaved in her entire life!"
"Yeah, violently spanking her, and leaving her scarred for life will do that, you worthless piece of shit!" Max angrily told him.
Archie, not liking that from Max, tells him "You sound like you want another beatdown from me, moptop!😠"
"Try it bitch, and you'll be in for the surprise of your life!😡" Max growls at Archie, through gritted teeth.
Archie didn't like that from Max. He continued "And what are ya gonna do, sic your emotional support dung beetle on me, moptop?" Archie was pointing at Victor, when he called him that, while laughing at him.
Victor, not liking that, leaps off of Max's shoulder to attack Archie, pinching him all over Archie's face. First, the nose and lips, then his ears, and then, when Archie was trying to brush him off, Victor pinches his fingers. Everytime Archie thought he got him, Victor pinches something else of Archie's. All while yelling at Archie, "THIS IS FOR ANGELA, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! AND SO IS THIS!!! AND THIS, AND THIS...🦀🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬"
And as that was going on, Angela was giggling at Victor attacking her father like that.
Soon, after getting his fingers and face crab pinched badly, Archie was able to get Victor off of him. Victor's on the ground, with his claws out, ready to attack again. Archie, enraged that he got crab pinched in a horrible way, looks at Victor and yells at him, "THAT'S IT, YOU FUCKING COCKROACH!!! I'M GONNA..."
"ARCHIE!!!!!😠😠😠😠😠" Screamed his father. Archie turns to look at his father, who has a very angry look on his face. He tells his son. "GROW UP, AND GET OVER HERE, NOW!!!!!" he commands him. Archie, unnerved by that response from his father, meekly obeys him and walks over to him.
Max, Frida, and everyone else, saw that, and were quite surprised by it.
Coming up: Barclay Davis - Angela, Court Is In Session